Ex-Girlfriend – Chapter 60
by Little PandaVolume 3: Song of the Wanderer
Great Demon King 19
The Game of the Brave
Zhen Zhen pondered for a moment, feeling that they couldn’t do anything to Yu Wanyan.
“Do as you please, I didn’t see anything.”
Zhen Zhen spread her hands, deliberately playing blind.
Xin Lan gripped the bow, casting a surprised glance at Yu Wanyan.
Yu Wanyan met her gaze, giving her a faint smile.
The violin wasn’t actually necessary, but since the three ghosts couldn’t be killed by human force, Xin Lan was getting annoyed by their persistence.
The bow touched the strings, and notes rang out.
The female ghost closest to Xin Lan trembled, cuts appearing on its form.
Qi Haolin’s expression changed at this sight – if this violin could tear ghosts apart and they couldn’t get near Xin Lan, wasn’t this all for nothing?
The music was no longer gentle, carrying a killing intent, its rhythm quick, stirring up a whirlwind that began shredding everything nearby.
The ghost floating in the air was unfortunately torn apart, while the other two ghosts heeded Qi Haolin’s instructions and retreated several steps, avoiding the deadly wind blades.
Pi Tianzi’s umbrella started shaking as soon as it entered the area, forcing her to withdraw it.
The music stopped, and the wind died down.
“Seems you haven’t learned your lesson yet.”
Xin Lan gazed at Qi Haolin, who clenched his fists.
“Let’s kill her together, or we’ll die right now!”
Qi Haolin shouted at Pi Tianzi.
Following his will, seven or eight ghost shadows appeared in the room.
“Has he gone mad? He’s just one person, he can’t handle so many ghosts!”
Zhen Zhen frowned, troubled.
After summoning those ghosts, Qi Haolin leaned weakly against the wall.
Each ghost summoned drained his energy, and now he felt completely exhausted, his head splitting with pain.
Through the wavering ghost shadows, he saw Xin Lan surrounded and smirked.
He refused to believe she could survive this time.
Pi Tianzi’s umbrella left her hand, thrusting toward Xin Lan.
The violin’s sound continued, but the eight newly summoned ghosts plus the previous two clustered together, pressing toward the center of the wind.
Xin Lan was almost completely surrounded by ghosts, the music growing fainter. Yu Wanyan furrowed her brows, reaching out to help, but someone grabbed her.
“Yu Wanyan, don’t you dare break the rules.”
A delicate and beautiful young lady emerged from the umbrella, looking disapprovingly at Yu Wanyan.
“What right do you have to interfere?”
Yu Wanyan cast her a cold glance, continuing to watch Xin Lan’s situation.
The music had completely stopped – would Xin Lan be alright?
She was so strong, surely she wouldn’t be defeated like this?
“Zhen Zhen, aren’t you going to stop her? We all agreed at the start that no one was allowed to help.”
“What are you talking about? I don’t understand at all. Oh dear, my eyesight is so poor, I can’t see anything!”
The mentioned Zhen Zhen shrugged, putting on an exaggerated act.
While others wanted to intervene, she didn’t, so why should she care about the rules? She decided not to get involved – let others do as they pleased.
“You!”
Qi Haolin couldn’t see the three ghost spirits conversing in the room, anxiously watching Xin Lan surrounded by ghosts.
It must succeed, it must!
Xin Lan had been playing the violin when she noticed ten ghosts approaching as a group. Even though the outer portions were being shredded to powder, they still purposefully pressed toward her.
The ghosts’ faces were horrifyingly grim, but Xin Lan deliberately slowed her music, letting them draw closer.
Just as the ghosts were about to pounce and tear at her, she swung the violin backhandedly, sending one flying. Simultaneously, she keenly sensed something approaching, and as she dodged sideways, a ghost’s wail exploded beside her ear.
Yu Wanyan sighed in relief, her face relaxing again.
Xin Lan turned around to see the umbrella that should have attacked her had instead pinned down a ghost, which let out a shrill cry before dissipating into the air.
Ling Jiu: “Congratulations on achieving the assist achievement√”
“Thank you.”
Xin Lan smiled gracefully, thanking Pi Tianzi.
Pi Tianzi nearly coughed up blood [一口老血 | yī kǒu lǎo xuè | idiom expressing extreme frustration], while Qi Haolin, seeing one of his ghosts eliminated, became somewhat flustered, though he knew he couldn’t voice his reproach at this moment.
The disappearance of one ghost didn’t hinder the other nine, who continued lunging toward Xin Lan.
This time, Pi Tianzi didn’t dare act carelessly – what if she accidentally killed another allied ghost?
Qi Haolin grew anxious seeing Pi Tianzi not taking action. He had allied with her because he knew he couldn’t handle Xin Lan alone, but with Pi Tianzi not acting now, how was this any different from fighting alone? Yet seeing how Pi Tianzi’s umbrella had just accidentally harmed his ghost, he felt mentally exhausted.
Xin Lan raised her violin again. She wasn’t a fool – these ghosts were already dead, and even if torn apart by hand, they could continue moving. Unless she severely wounded a ghost, she might have the patience to fight two or three, but severely wounding all nine one by one would be too troublesome. Better to use her tool to shatter them instead.
“What are you waiting for? Get in there!”
Qi Haolin anxiously urged as he watched Pi Tianzi still standing there with her umbrella.
“I’m worried about killing your ghosts, okay?”
“You can’t possibly miss every time, just forget about that!”
It was somewhat comical how these two were discussing this right in front of Xin Lan, whose fingers and bow hand moved increasingly faster.
If one didn’t know the context, they might think she was showing off her skills, when in fact she was strangling the approaching ghosts.
She felt the air flow, the wind growing fiercer with her violin notes.
Pi Tianzi’s umbrella left her hand again, flying toward Xin Lan at the center, but was deflected and returned to Pi Tianzi’s grip.
Pi Tianzi cursed under her breath, anxiously gripping her umbrella.
This woman was unexpectedly powerful – if she had known, she would never have allied with Qi Haolin. Now that things were so clearly exposed, if they couldn’t win, they would surely die here.
Pi Tianzi thought of this and glared at Qi Haolin in frustration, completely forgetting that she had been the one to provoke and attack first, without even consulting Qi Haolin.
Watching two more of his ghosts dissipate into the air, unable to withstand the assault, Qi Haolin irritably ordered his remaining seven to retreat to the side.
“This isn’t fair!”
Why could Xin Lan’s violin be so powerful, able to withstand attacks from so many of his ghosts? It was impossible to win like this – how could the game continue if they couldn’t win?
“You’re just too weak. Don’t blame the game for being unfair.”
Xin Lan stopped moving, the music cutting off abruptly.
She thought this green hat was quite nice – at least she didn’t have to fight physically, and it could attack multiple targets at once.
Zhen Zhen strongly agreed with Xin Lan’s words – her green hat was indeed powerful.
At this moment, Qi Haolin, Pi Tianzi, and Xin Lan stood in a triangular formation.
Pi Tianzi held her parasol at the ready, while Qi Haolin’s seven female ghosts glared menacingly [虎視眈眈 | hǔ shì dān dān | idiom: watching like a tiger eyeing its prey] at Xin Lan.
Xin Lan remained completely calm, looking from Qi Haolin to Pi Tianzi.
Neither of them could beat her one-on-one, so they could only team up, but together, Pi Tianzi’s umbrella could harm Qi Haolin’s ghosts, leaving them at this stalemate.
“I’m tired of playing with you.”
Xin Lan put down her violin and flexed her wrist.
Her aura suddenly changed as she lowered her body and charged toward Pi Tianzi.
Her speed was incredible, so fast that Pi Tianzi couldn’t even react.
She instinctively tried to block with her umbrella, but her arm was struck, the numbing pain forcing her to release her grip. In an instant, Xin Lan had her pinned to the ground, choking her throat.
Xin Lan’s knee pressed against Pi Tianzi’s chest, her grip tightening.
Pi Tianzi’s legs thrashed wildly a couple of times, her face contorting from lack of air.
She had never felt death so close before; in that moment, she couldn’t even think, her mind completely blank.
The fallen umbrella suddenly floated up, targeting Xin Lan’s back.
Xin Lan immediately shifted her body, and the umbrella plunged into Pi Tianzi’s body instead.
Blood splattered onto Xin Lan’s body and face, making her frown.
She should have finished this person off instantly earlier – she hadn’t struck decisively because of her professional habit of wanting to throw in some taunts. These villains always liked to mock others before their death, but before she could even get a word out, the opponent had sealed their own fate.
Pi Tianzi’s eyes were wide open, still not processing what had happened.
She felt blood gradually flowing out of her body, the intense pain making thought impossible.
The chandelier began to blur before her eyes as Pi Tianzi twitched her fingers.
How could this be? She should have been the winner.
It should have been her.
Yu Wanyan, seeing Xin Lan dispatch someone so cleanly and efficiently, gave her a thumbs up.
Qi Haolin leaned against the wall, his face dark and cold.
With blood on her face, Xin Lan approached Qi Haolin step by step.
Qi Haolin felt his heart flutter; he could barely bring himself to meet Xin Lan’s gaze.
This person’s strength was beyond his imagination. When she attacked Pi Tianzi, she hadn’t even used any tools – her speed was too fast to follow, reaching Pi Tianzi in an instant and grabbing her throat.
The whole process took barely a minute; Qi Haolin was so shocked he didn’t even have time to command his ghosts to help Pi Tianzi.
Pi Tianzi was dead, and he might be next.
But he didn’t want to die; he couldn’t accept his game ending in failure like this.
This was supposed to be his carefully designed plan. Though he didn’t know the rules, he had entered with great enthusiasm, but that excitement had vanished after the first level.
This Xin Lan now left him breathless, preventing him from enjoying the game from the very beginning.
Cold sweat formed on Qi Haolin’s palms as he watched Xin Lan draw closer, making him shrink back.
Xin Lan found it amusing, watching Qi Haolin hide behind his ghosts.
She picked up the violin nearby and struck down the ghosts one by one.
Like smashing watermelons, the ghosts’ heads burst open, dissolving into smoke and disappearing, until the last ghost vanished before their eyes.
With no cover left, Qi Haolin’s face turned ashen.
“Qi Haolin, even now, do you still think you’ve done nothing wrong?”
“Wrong? I’ve never thought I was wrong.”
Qi Haolin straightened up and sneered.
Having nothing left to lose, he still refused to admit any wrongdoing.
“Between her and me, it was all consensual, understand? I didn’t force her. She threw herself at me like some cheap thing, and I didn’t even care. So what if I pursued her first? In the end, I got bored and kicked her aside,” Qi Haolin scoffed. “I don’t know what you are, and yes, you’re stronger than me, more capable than me, but so what? I still don’t think I did anything wrong. She was stupid – she deserved it!”
Xin Lan quietly watched him speak with that contemptuous tone, feeling not anger but amusement in her heart.
She knew how people like this would react – they would remain unwilling, unaccepting, still believing they were right.
Those who specialized in psychological warfare were indeed clever, able to make even seemingly hopeless people feel regret, but Xin Lan still refused to change her approach.
Even if she changed departments, she wouldn’t compromise before scum.
For no other reason than not wanting to sicken herself.
“I admire your ignorance of life and death, because fighting someone like you makes me happier.”
Xin Lan’s lips curled slightly, and in the next moment, she grabbed Qi Haolin’s hair and smashed his head against the wall.
“You seem too full of yourself, thinking I would need your admission of guilt or apology?”
She didn’t need any of that – making him wish he were dead, making his life worse than death would be enough.
LP: Re-translated on January 28, 2025
0 Comments