Your Preference (21)
“The ending modification failed——”
A section of black, stained with demonic energy, smooth long strip floats up and down in mid-air.
Black breath from all directions wraps it together, with golden fine threads of light penetrating out from the inside. Xu Jiao sits in a golden chair, with one hand supporting her cheek, continuously releasing demonic energy from within her body, watching as the black continuously wraps the gold, but the gold continuously overflows from inside, like soldiers surrounded in a desperate place, attempting to break through at the end of the road.
Her face is pale, as if she has lost too much blood, completely different from when she got out of bed in the morning.
Suddenly.
The doorway transmits a similar breath, Xu Jiao glances sideways, catching a glimpse of a shallow gold with the corner of her eye. Her wrist moves slightly, as if preparing to put away this section of black thing, but as the thought flashes past, she does not move.
Little Lilith’s walking movement was neither too big nor too small, not deliberately concealing her presence. She even knocked on the door, realizing Xu Jiao had no intention of preventing her from entering, so she stepped inside.
As soon as she got close, the little friend suddenly changed her expression:
“Your Excellency the Saintess, is this…?”
She actually took the divine bone out from inside her own body!
Little Lilith could clearly feel that the key skeletal part inside this person’s body in front of her was supported by demonic energy condensed into a mass. This means that although this person appears strong, if some enemy or similar were to come and disperse the demonic energy inside her body, her life would be in extreme danger!
Xu Jiao touched her lips with her right hand and made a “shh” gesture to her.
The girl wanted to say something more, but upon seeing Xu Jiao’s action, she swallowed her words back, using only a worried gaze to stare intently at her, afraid that the person in front of her would vanish once she left.
Xu Jiao saw her trying hard to suppress her worry and obediently walk to her front, smiled slightly, and said to her, “This matter, do not tell her.”
Little Lilith’s face showed a look of entanglement.
After a good while, she reluctantly nodded her head.
Xu Jiao then praised her, “Really obedient.”
The blonde little girl walked to her side, raising her hand to hold the chair’s armrest, not daring to disturb Xu Jiao’s action of using demonic energy to erode this piece of bone. After a while, she asked in a small voice:
“What are you preparing to do?”
Xu Jiao turned her head to look outside the window. Outside, the bright sunlight remained, the window frame encapsulating a piece of blue sky, along with snow-white clouds, creating a sense of comfort.
She slowly said, “I am waiting.”
Wait for the moment when God is about to awaken.
Little Lilith looked at her, seemingly understanding yet not understanding, not knowing whether she grasped the meaning of her words. After a while, the little friend asked in a small voice, “God will kill you, right?”
Xu Jiao was not in a hurry to answer, only staring at the divine bone in front of her. At that moment, she suddenly controlled her own mind, driving all the demonic energy to one end, freeing up a large area, allowing the golden light to emerge from inside. That golden light was the divine power contained within the divine bone.
The divine power thought the demonic energy had finally exhausted and retreated, baring fangs and brandishing claws as it moved toward the demonic energy, intending to completely extinguish it. However, the demonic energy gathered into a mass, and Xu Jiao suddenly asked:
“Lilith, this divine bone is too hard. Do you have any method that can let the demonic energy drill inside?”
The little friend nodded her head, answering without hesitation, “Of course.”
Xu Jiao saw her respond so easily, not expecting this task to be so simple for her. She immediately moved the divine bone to Lilith’s front, as if casually handing an ordinary object to someone else.
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However, Lilith raised her hand and bit open her own right fingertip, then raised her hand to cover the place where the golden light was. In the next moment, her entire arm transformed into pure black, dense demonic energy, drilling toward one end of the pure white bone—
The golden demonic energy sizzled, seemingly warning of something.
But the entire room was concealed by a magic array, and no movement could be transmitted out.
Both of their gazes were focused on the end of the divine bone where the demonic energy was invading. It was unclear how much time had passed, but that pure white bone suddenly changed color, appearing somewhat gray.
The blonde girl said softly, “Succeeded, Your Excellency the Saintess.”
Xu Jiao curled her lips, retracting the surrounding demonic energy, and allowed the golden divine power to cover the gray bone. Subsequently, she ensured every corner was completely covered. In the eyes of others, this divine bone shone with golden light, the most noble color in the world.
Just like…
The moment it was first taken out.
Xu Jiao, seeing the part of Lilith’s right hand that had disappeared, guessed that the demonic energy she just gave had caused some damage to Lilith. She then transferred her own demonic energy over. The girl raised her head and said softly, “You don’t need to do this…”
Xu Jiao pinched her ear, not allowing her to refuse. After all the demonic energy was transferred over, her complexion became much paler, as if she would fall with a touch, and her voice weakened significantly, like a thread of breath:
“No problem.”
Xu Jiao lightly answered, “These were originally yours.”
It was the demonic energy that the black snake had divided to her.
Now it merely returns to its original owner.
Little Lilith looked at her worriedly, feeling the impulse to rush out and bring the black snake to help, but she knew that Her Excellency the Saintess would not allow her to do so. She could only suppress the impulse and reluctantly stay by Xu Jiao’s side.
But some words had reached a point where they had to be spoken: “Your Excellency the Saintess, you will be alright, won’t you?”
Xu Jiao looked at her quietly, “Lilith.”
She was contemplating how to explain to the little friend to make her accept the fact that she was about to leave this world.
The blonde girl’s sea-blue eyes were filled with tears. She watched helplessly as Her Excellency the Saintess gradually became weaker, fully aware that this was a choice made to protect herself. However, Lilith wished that the one disappearing would be herself.
Xu Jiao, in a soothing tone, answered unhurriedly, “I do not originally belong to this world; I only came here for some reasons, borrowing the incarnation of God. It is naturally to be expected that They would be angry, and I do not feel surprised—”
“But you, you must live well, do you understand?”
Xu Jiao asked herself, this world is the one she has cared for the most, the one where she most wanted to achieve a happy ending.
Especially this little friend, whom she personally pulled out from the mud and brought step by step into the light. She does not want to see such a protagonist wiped out by an irresistible, unreasonable power.
Becoming a god or becoming a demon is sometimes not a matter of personal choice.
This is a truth she has only recently come to understand.
Xu Jiao, as the author, had a hard time teaching the protagonist many truths, allowing her to slowly grow. Xu Jiao could accept the protagonist’s occasional small failures or some rugged detours, but she absolutely would not allow this character to be wiped out by the world’s will.
Little Lilith shook her head, tears falling from the corners of her eyes. She reached out her hand, wanting to hold Xu Jiao’s hand, but halfway through, she dared not move forward, because the person sitting in the chair seemed too thin and weak, as if she might break with a touch.
“No…”
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She said, “I only want you to live well. I… she and I, we both only want you to live well.”
Xu Jiao did not laugh at her naivety and still wanted to say something more. The bone floating in mid-air suddenly began to tremble and then flew out, as if summoned and pulled by something.
Xu Jiao raised her eyes to look outside the window, then turned back to the little friend and said in a low voice, “God is about to wake up.”
The blonde girl didn’t have time to wipe the tears from her face. Even though she had recently become extremely fond of beauty, always showing her cutest, most perfect side in front of Xu Jiao, now she was crying.
“You said you would take me with you no matter where you go…” the little girl unreasonably emphasized this point.
Xu Jiao was originally unmoved, but seeing her cry so miserably, with even her voice trembling, she hesitated for a second and unexpectedly told a lie:
“We will reunite.”
Little Lilith looked at her with tearful, blurry eyes: “…Really?”
Xu Jiao still wanted to speak.
Yet from a distant place came the sound of a bell.
Between heaven and earth, all the pigeons flew toward the horizon, and golden light swept in from the horizon, enveloping the entire Miracle Continent.
There was a low sigh that spread through heaven and earth, with its lament and regret very obvious.
Afterward—
A sentence in a language that no one understood sounded, its tone pleasant, causing all the birds to sing along. Only Xu Jiao smiled once, as she understood this divine language sentence.
It meant, judgment.
Xu Jiao opened her lips, and intense pain came from the area of her heart.
She lowered her head and saw a golden light arrow piercing through her.
This was the judgment of God.
The scorching breath came from the wound, and the rolling heat could vaporize her soul in an instant. The last sound she heard was the mechanical voice of the system:
“Detected…”
“Welcome back to the virtual space.”
Xu Jiao blinked her eyes and found herself sitting on the gaming chair. She sat up, and the first thing she did was take a deep breath and look down; the light arrow in her heart area had disappeared.
The fatal wound was only her illusion.
Xu Jiao slowly exhaled the breath from her mouth and relaxed, leaning back against the chair. Then she asked the system, “What did you just say?”
System: “…Detected that your character has lost its life signal and will withdraw you from this story ahead of time. Please wait for the story’s ending.”
Xu Jiao raised her hand to smooth her forehead hair and lightly responded, “Oh.”
Her gaze glanced toward the bookshelf, as if she vaguely saw the spine of the book 《The Favored Her》. After a few seconds, she softly asked, “Then, what is the ending?”
The system was quiet for a moment, as if searching, and then replied a beat slowly:
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“Please wait a moment.”
Xu Jiao patiently waited—
Within her line of sight, a book emitting golden light flew out from the bookshelf and spread open in front of her. Xu Jiao unconsciously clenched her palm and squinted her eyes.
A few seconds later.
The golden book in front of her flipped through its pages, finally stopping on the last page.
Xu Jiao was just about to lower her head to look.
Suddenly, the golden color of the whole book slowly faded. Her eyes slowly widened, and she raised her hand to try to grasp the dispersing brilliance, but the color was not under her control…
Xu Jiao could only watch it turn gray little by little in front of her.
At the same time, the system’s voice plainly sounded in the space:
“Apologize to inform you—”
“Ending modification failed.”