Volume Two: A Youth of a Thousand Faces, False Yet Real, Chapter Eighty-Five: Pandora

The vice president of the Hall of Truth looked worried. “President, is this really all right? He’s an awakened power user of the dark element too!”

There was a reason he said that. Years ago, when Kim Puxian and Tan Xiao had faced off in the club war, everyone had thought Kim Puxian’s Nightmare Eye Technique could be used to hold Tan Xiao in check. But the nightmare illusion caused by the technique had instead stirred up Tan Xiao’s intense negative emotions. And the dark element grew stronger by feeding on negative emotions. That was something most people did not know.

Back then, Tan Xiao had broken free of the eye technique in just a few minutes, leaping from A-rank to S-rank on the spot, and had even said something during the fight, an extremely rare thing for him. “I should thank you. Without your eye technique, I don’t know how long it would have taken me to advance. I advise you not to use that trick on dark-element users in the future—especially Calamity. It will only help them level up.”

He had said it only to keep Kim Puxian from helping Calamity advance. But after that, word spread through the academy that Kim Puxian’s Nightmare Eye Technique could aid dark-element users in breaking through. Many students trapped at bottlenecks came to seek his help, willing even to pay points for it. Of course, all of them were sent away by the Hall of Truth with a single word: “Get lost.”

And now Hoye, who had been stuck at the A-rank bottleneck for two years, had fallen under the Nightmare Eye Technique.

“Let him be. Even if he really does break free of my technique that fast, he still won’t have any chance of taking the score token back. Just follow me now,” Kim Puxian did not care whether he was only sewing robes for another man to wear, because all he wanted was victory tonight. As long as he beat Hoye this once, that would be enough, because this was the first time. How do you keep winning against someone forever? Simple: beat them once, and then never give them a second chance.

Hoye continued forward through the dark world. In this illusionary realm, he seemed unable to use his own power. This was not a self-contained independent space, only a consciousness space created by spatial power. Who knew, really? In terms of sheer strangeness, spatial powers were second only to curse casters.

“A direct attack on the mind?” Hoye thought.

His mental strength was indeed formidable enough. If an ordinary person were struck by this move, they would lose themselves in that boundless consciousness space, rather than realize as clearly as he did that they had merely been hit by an ability.

“Hoye.”

At that moment, he heard a voice from behind him, a gentle voice, the one he had longed for day and night. Its owner was Qingxue.

That voice struck straight at Hoye’s heart, as though a letter had been sent down from heaven, like the white spider lily he kept in his room.

Scalding tears slid down his cheeks. Hoye’s lips trembled, as if words were struggling to come out, yet he did not dare speak them.

What did Hoye most want to do right now? Turn around, take the person who filled him with such guilt into his arms, and say he was sorry. Sorry. Sorry...

What else could he say? I miss you? But perhaps the only thing left was sorry. If he could not protect her, what right did he have to say he missed her?

But Hoye did not do that, because he understood deeply that all of this was an illusion. He could not be fooled. And yet... his lips had barely parted before he clamped them shut again. He thought that even saying one word would be enough, but he could not. He did not know whether the moment he answered, he would fall into the trap again.

He knew Kim Puxian would not take his life, but he had to win this race, because the responsibility of the Star Society still rested on his shoulders. If he could not even shoulder a small club’s burden, then what was there to talk about being the number one monster-hunting squad in humanity?

The imagined Qingxue, however, would not let him go. She wrapped her arms around Hoye from behind and asked softly, “Why didn’t you protect me? Why are you so weak? Why was it not you who died?” Each question was like a sharp blade, piercing straight through Hoye’s soul. For two years, for more than seven hundred nights, he had asked himself the same thing in his dreams: why had it not been him who died?

Guilt surged up in an instant. Hoye wanted to defend himself, but the moment he managed to say, “I...” he hurriedly covered his mouth. Damn this ability!

“Say it. Go on, say it! Why did you leave me behind and live on alone in this world? Didn’t you love me? Why not come and stay with...”

“Are you done yet?” Hoye’s cold voice cut in. Though not loud, it seemed to echo through the entire world of consciousness. His shoulder jerked, shaking the false Qingxue loose. He turned and glared at her, saying, “You damn fake. If you’re going to pretend, at least do a decent job. How could she possibly say something like that?”

Hoye clenched his knuckles hard. The cracking sounds were like bullets being chambered.

“W-wait, you’re not actually going to hit me, are you? Can you really bring yourself to do it?” The false Qingxue waved her hands in panic and shouted.

“Something that isn’t even a girl, just an illusion wearing her skin, and you expect me to hold back?” Hoye twisted at the waist, taut as a fully drawn bow. His fist tightened, then smashed out with full force.

Face-Breaking Fist!

“Get lost!”

With that single blow, the illusion scattered, yet Hoye’s fist did not relax at all. His eyelid twitched, his teeth clenched, and veins stood out on his neck.

“You want to make me collapse in grief, is that it? Kim Puxian, you really pissed me off!” To dare touch his bottom line by using Qingxue—unforgivable!

Clap, clap, clap.

Applause sounded from somewhere in the darkness. A man stepped out and chuckled. “Heh, incredible. I really didn’t expect this. Not only were you utterly unmoved, you saw through everything so easily. I really underestimated you!”

No sooner had he spoken than Hoye’s fist was already at his face. But to anyone’s surprise, the man caught Hoye’s fist with ease and said, “Hey, don’t be so impulsive. Take a good look at who I am.”

Hoye looked up and found that the man’s face was exactly his own, with only two differences: his hair and his eyes were both a strange, deep violet.

The man said, “This is our first meeting in nineteen years, so allow me to introduce myself. My name is Pandora. Yes, that Pandora—the one from ancient Greek that means ‘the all-purpose genius.’” His tone was filled with indescribable self-confidence and narcissism, and Hoye’s first impression of him was: “He deserves a beating.”

Pandora went on. “To keep it brief, I’m not an illusion, nor am I the product of some mental illness. In a sense, I am you, and yet not you. You definitely can’t understand what I’m saying right now, but you will in the future, so there’s no need to rush. If you doubt my existence, you can ask Dad to confirm it. The one who wiped out that Calamity advance force in District C11 two years ago was me. He saw it himself, only he hid that from everyone, including you, the person directly involved.”

But Hoye seemed completely unconcerned with Pandora’s words. He only glared at him and said, “Have you said enough? Then tell me how to get out. Compared to figuring out exactly what you are, I’d rather get out first and kill that damn Korean bastard!”

Pandora showed no displeasure at Hoye’s attitude. Instead, he laughed with delight. “Hahaha, as expected of you—no, as expected of me? Forget it, it’s all the same. In terms of the spiritual world, there’s no way you know it better than I do after living here for nineteen years. Something as simple as this kind of illusion is nothing more than...” As he spoke, Pandora raised his right hand and snapped his fingers lightly.

The clear snap rang through the entire world of consciousness, followed by the sound of cracking somewhere unseen. “...a matter of a single flick of the fingers.” Pandora narrowed his eyes in a smile, the pride between his brows impossible to conceal.

“Anyway, that’s how it is. I can’t just meet you whenever I please. Go out, confirm it, and then, if fate allows, we’ll meet again!”

The world shattered like a mirror. Through the blur, Hoye’s own hands came into view—his hands gripping the handlebars. The tunnel receded, the wind roared, and his consciousness returned.

The camera caught the instant Hoye’s gaze sharpened again. Under the pressure of events, Lu Fei shouted, “Amazing! He broke free of President Kim’s Nightmare Eye Technique in only five minutes! Truly worthy of someone who dared to establish a club at Banclough and stand against the seven great clubs!”

“It worked, it worked! Boss is back!” Jiang Feng shouted excitedly, only to fail to notice that Alice and Rerimi both silently swallowed.

“I say, Rerimi...”

“Mm?”

“You see my big brother...”

“Mm, big brother’s angry. The kind that kills people!”

When it came to understanding Hoye, who could compare with them?

Still exhilarated, Jiang Feng then heard a thunderous sound coming from far away. No microphone carried it, no broadcast played it, yet it still seemed to explode right beside his ear. It was Hoye’s hysterical roar.

“Kim Puxian! I want your life!”