Chapter 725: Gaze

Chapter 725 Gaze

The blazing phoenix rose up from Soo Soo’s palm. The moment it did, it expanded into the size of a man as it flapped its wings and cried out.

A few pieces of feather fell from its body to land on the dead leaves on the ground, causing them to instantly go up in flames, transforming into ashes in but an instant.

The phoenix circled around in the sky twice before turning toward Yu Jiajia.

“Daddy!”

Yu Jiajia shrieked out and buried her head into Qiao Yifeng’s chest.

Qiao Yifeng’s face was pale. He looked at the slowly advancing phoenix while embracing Yu Jiajia tightly, his whole body trembling.

With the four walls of fire around them, there was no room for escape.

He did not know when Soo Soo obtained such power. Even more so, he did not know why Soo Soo could remember what happened back then.

It would appear that she was capable of controlling the speed at which the phoenix was flying forward and wanted to maximize the feelings of fear and helplessness that Qiao Yifeng was going through.

“It is useless, Uncle Qiao. No matter how tightly you hug her, I can precisely control the power of my skill.” Soo Soo revealed a sweet smile and she licked her lips. “I will not kill you and make Qiao Qiao unnie suffer. For you alone to suffer is good enough. Do… … don’t… … don’t do this…”

Suddenly, the faint smile that had constantly been on her face contorted to become one of panic.

Even the phoenix was affected, suddenly stopping its advance. It simply continued to flap its wings as it hovered in the sky.

Soo Soo’s body suddenly curled up into a ball as she knelt down on the ground, seemingly enduring a great deal of pain.

“Go back! I told you before, just leave this to me!”

“Cannot… do this… … she is innocent…”

“Innocent? Are you not innocent? Am I not innocent? Why must the two of us be the only ones to bear this pain of losing our loved ones!”

Soo Soo’s tiny body trembled uncontrollably as two completely different voices came out from her mouth. It seemed as though the two voices were talking to each other.

Qiao Yifeng watched what was happening to Soo Soo with a gaping mouth, uncertain of what to do.

“Daddy! She…” Yu Jiajia raised her head up and looked at Soo Soo with a confused expression. “What is wrong with her?”

Qiao Yifeng looked at Soo Soo, who was struggling painfully, and looked down at Yu Jiajia, who was still in his embrace. After a moment’s hesitation, he slowly raised up the laser handgun and aimed it at Soo Soo.

…

“Guild Leader!” Chen Xiaolian had only just finished off all the enemies coming at him when Qimu Xi sent a private message his way. “Something has happened.”

“What is it?” Chen Xiaolian could hear the anxiousness within Qimu Xi’s voice. “Are Roddy and the others not able to make their way here right now?”

He then looked down at the corpses beneath him and smiled. “That is all right. The enemies have been dealt with. A little delay is all right.”

“No. Roddy and the rest are already on their way. It’s just…” Qimu Xi hastily continued, “Soo Soo has disappeared!”

“Damn!” Chen Xiaolian’s face sank. “When?”

“I just found out…” Qimu Xi’s voice was heavy with guilt. “I had just checked the surveillance system. Soo Soo took the boat and left 131 minutes ago. The direction she took… … was the same as yours.”

Chen Xiaolian calculated the time for a bit and his brows furrowed up.

One hundred and thirty-one minutes ago meant over two hours. Soo Soo had left right after his departure from the island resort.

Furthermore, she had left in the same direction as him.

“Soo Soo, report your location.” Chen Xiaolian asked Soo Soo through their guild channel, but received no response.

“What is it?” Seeing the irregular look on Chen Xiaolian’s face, the puzzled Qiao Qiao asked.

“Qimu Xi informed me that Soo Soo had gone missing.” Chen Xiaolian frowned. “In the past, she had secretly snuck off before. After returning, she did not explain anything to me. I had just tried asking her through the guild channel, but she is not responding. However, according to Qimu Xi, she left in the same direction as us. Could it be that she … … wants to meet her foster father?”

Qiao Qiao’s face suddenly sank. Next, seemingly having gone crazy, she dashed after Qiao Yifeng.

“What is it?” After a brief moment of shock, Chen Xiaolian quickly went after Qiao Qiao.

“Soo Soo…” Qiao Qiao gritted her teeth as she continued dashing forward. “She wants to kill my dad!”

“What?” Chen Xialian was shocked. “Why?!”

“Because… her biological parents, my dad was the one who sent assassins after them!” Qiao Qiao ran furiously, her voice hoarse. “In the Jerusalem instance dungeon’s nightmare, I saw the scene that she had buried deep within her memories! It is no wonder that a dark personality would be born. At present, the one controlling her body must surely be the dark personality!” 

…

“Daddy…” Yu Jiajia stared in shock at Qiao Yifeng. “You… … you really want to kill Soo Soo?”

Qiao Yifeng looked at the kneeling Soo Soo. Her forehead was pressed down against the ground and her body was convulsing uncontrollably. The muscles on Qiao Yifeng’s face were contorted and his right hand, which was holding the laser handgun, trembled somewhat.

His index finger was on the trigger, the handgun aimed right at Soo Soo.

“Don… don’t!” Seeing Qiao Yifeng on the verge of pulling the trigger, Yu Jiajia hastily jumped forward to push Qiao Yifeng’s arm aside.

A laser beam shot past Soo Soo’s body to strike a nearby tree trunk, immediately creating a small hole through the trunk. Cyan-coloured smoke rose up from the hole.

“Daddy… … she is my little sister!” Yu Jiajia gripped Qiao Yifeng’s arm with all her might as she shouted at the top of her lungs. “Did you forget?! Since young… … she had grown up with me since she was but a child! Even if we are not related by blood, she is still my little sister!”

“Your little sister is trying to kill you right now! Don’t you get it?!” Qiao Yifeng pushed Yu Jiajia way with his left hand, blue-coloured veins popping up on his neck.

Soo Soo was still loudly arguing with herself.

Once again, Qiao Yifeng’s right hand aimed the laser handgun at Soo Soo.

He knew that Soo Soo’s dark personality would inevitably gain the upper hand. If he were incapable of killing her right now, Yu Jiajia would die.

Qiao Yifeng pulled the trigger a second time. This time, he was not interrupted by Yu Jiajia and the laser beam accurately struck Soo Soo’s heart.

However, it did not pierce through Soo Soo’s body. The laser beam merely scorched away the outer part of her clothes there to reveal the protective suit beneath.

Even though Qiao Yifeng had lost his memories as an Awakened, he was still Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild’s representative in the secular world. He could recognize that the protective suit that Soo Soo was wearing was an [A] class product from Zero City.

“Damn it!”

After having made it through the psychological barrier with the first shot, Qiao Yifeng did not hesitate to continue firing furiously at Soo Soo. However, an ordinary laser handgun was simply incapable of piercing the protective suit that Soo Soo was wearing.

“See that?” Soo Soo, whose head remained pressing against the ground, did not try to dodge. She simply sneered. “Qiao Qiao unnie’s father really wants to kill us, just like how he killed out parents…”

This time, Soo Soo’s other voice did not speak up again.

“That is right, just like this. Just keep sleeping.”

Soo Soo slowly got up from the ground. She stared at the laser handgun, which was continuously pouring its ammo at her, and stepped toward Qiao Yifeng. “Don’t worry. Once this is all over, I will disappear forever. I will help you erase this set of memories. You… … will remain as the cute and innocent little girl.”

Seeing the look of absolute desperation on Qiao Yifeng’s face, Soo Soo’s face revealed a peculiar smile. A new blazing phoenix had risen up from her palm once more to fly up into the sky.

“Soo Soo!”

A clump of black mist soared past the wall of fire to confront the blazing phoenix. Next, Qiao Qiao’s cry of pain could be heard.

The black mist dispersed to reveal Qiao Qiao kneeling on one knee. A bird-shaped scorch mark had appeared on her body.

Qiao Qiao was also wearing an [A] class protective suit. However, it was incapable of completely protecting her against Soo Soo’s attack. Moreover, Qiao Qiao’s Anti-materialization skill had greatly reduced her resistance toward energy and spirit-based attacks.

“Qiao Qiao… … unnie? You came after all.” Soo Soo halted her steps, a look of sadness appearing on her face. “Originally, I had thought that… … I can end everything before you arrive.”

“If you really did kill Qiao Yifeng, it will not be the end. It will only be the beginning of a new suffering.” Chen Xiaolian’s voice rang out from behind Soo Soo. “Let it go, Soo Soo.”

“Qiao Qiao unnie, Xiaolian oppa… … it seems, you two already know.” Soo Soo did not turn around. Her head remained lowered. “In that case, you should understand. This pain is something that is impossible to let go of. Besides… … I have no intentions of killing Qiao Yifeng.”

“No?” Chen Xiaolian gave a harrumph. “If so, what is up with these walls of fire and that fire phoenix you unleashed earlier?”

“The one I want to kill is her.” Soo Soo raised her head and twirled her hair before pointing at a space behind Qiao Qiao.

Qiao Qiao turned around to see where Soo Soo was pointing at only to see a pale-faced Yu Jiajia.

“Qiao Qiao unnie, do you know? After your death, the system modified the memories of you in all the ordinary humans. That includes… Qiao Yifeng.” Soo Soo smiled. “Thus, she took over your identity, becoming Xiaolian oppa’s girlfriend and… … Qiao Yifeng’s daughter. Maybe you don’t know it yet. However, she is truly, also Qiao Yifeng’s daughter. An… … illegitimate daughter!”

“So… … do you really want to protect her? Protect someone who took away your boyfriend and father?”

Soo Soo lowered her hand and stared sternly at Qiao Qiao. “Qiao Qiao unnie, I love you as much as you love me. That is why I will never do anything that will bring you harm. However, I also cannot put down the resentment involving my daddy and mommy. So… just let me kill off Yu Jiajia. This is the best choice. Originally, I had wanted to do all this without you knowing. But since you have found out…”

While Soo Soo was talking, not once did Qiao Qiao turn her head back. Instead, she simply looked at Yu Jiajia and Qiao Yifeng, an impassive expression on her face.

After Chen Xiaolian and Qiao Qiao appeared, Qiao Yifeng’s face regained some of its colour. At present however, it had turned pale once more.

As a former Awakened, Qiao Yifeng knew that the system would refresh a dead Awakened as an ordinary human and create a new set of memories for those around that refreshed Awakened.

However… … this was different.

If the girl known as Qiao Qiao was truly her daughter, the only things he should forget should be the memories of her as an Awakened. She would have been refreshed back as an ordinary girl, but he should still remember the fact that he had a daughter called Qiao Qiao.

At present, however, Qiao Yifeng had completely forgotten about her.

Qiao Yifeng was unwilling to believe Soo Soo’s words. However, the gaze that Qiao Qiao was presently directing toward Yu Jiajia was one filled with resentment and hatred.

Additionally, when Qiao Qiao turned her gaze toward him, that gaze was clearly…

A gaze of one looking at her own father.

A father who had abandoned her!