Chapter 14: The Compass

Amidst the ruins, Xia Shou stood alone, his shadow cast over the charred corpse above him. The devouring progress crept forward bit by bit, the red line beneath his feet rotating at an agonizingly slow pace.

Under normal circumstances, assuming the blood demon’s movement speed remains constant, the slower the red line spins, the farther the blood demon is from him.

At this moment, the blood demon must be quite a distance away. Xia Shou noticed that besides the thickest red line, there was another thinner red line also moving slowly. This line represented a threat second only to the blood demon—most likely the ghostly leopard engulfed in black flames.

One had to admit, the self-destructive navigation map was more than just a guide; it could also be regarded as a tracking system to some extent.

Judging by the direction these two lines were moving, the blood demon was currently pursuing that vengeful spirit.

This matched the events from last time. The blood demon had arrived on the scene immediately after the leopard reached the ruins. Back then, the blood demon was undoubtedly tracking the black panther.

Now, both parties were still some distance away from him, so maintaining this until the devouring completed shouldn’t be a problem.

“Lord Xia Shou, I will protect you,” Alice said softly.

Xia Shou could not respond but felt much reassured inside.

...

Time passed second by second, and after an indeterminate stretch, the devouring finally neared its end.

This time, the operation saved immeasurably more time than before.

[Devouring Progress: 100%]

[Devouring complete. You have acquired a skill—[Mastery Alone in the Void!]]

[Description:
Practice punches alone, meditate alone;
Fight alone, heal alone;
Bear everything alone, save the world alone.]

[Effect: Lock onto any number of hostile targets. Upon activation, instantly refresh the cooldowns of all extraordinary skills. For one minute, you will ignore the targets’ extraordinary resistance and incur no cost for any extraordinary skills except this one.]

[Cost: If any locked targets survive after one minute, you die;
All actions during this minute will be considered ‘secret.’ If this secret spreads a second time, you die;
After this skill ends, all extraordinary skills forcibly enter cooldown.]

[Note 1: Although this power may be used frequently, challengers of the abyss must beware of falling deeper—the speed of your descent will increase with its use.]

[Note 2: You have obtained the memories of a strong one, which can be accessed through prolonged meditation.]

Xia Shou clenched his fists and stretched his stiff body.

“Very well, everything that can be gathered now has been gathered. It’s time for the final moment.”

...

Café.

Su Weiyu changed into a white shirt and took a compass from behind her waist to check it. The needle continued spinning, showing no sign of stopping, as if broken.

“I shouldn’t have come in here,” she sighed and slowly sat down against the supporting wall.

She no longer had the strength to keep running around this place. The blood demon would find her sooner or later.

But… aside from trusting the compass’s guidance, did she have any other choice?

In this solitary world, she had had enough.

Invisible to anyone, unnoticed in everything she did.

No praise, no criticism.

No sympathy, no concern…

Rescuing a drowning child brought no commendation; the child himself ignored her existence.

Tripping an innocent passerby drew no rebuke; even the victim did not get angry.

Even when taking useful banned items from the powerful Control Bureau, no one stopped her.

Likewise, when sick, no doctor would treat her; she had to look up information online and diagnose herself.

If she accidentally got injured, a minor cut was manageable—she could anesthetize and stitch it herself. But if the wound was on her hand, sewing it was especially difficult. More severe injuries could be life-threatening.

Her survival till now owed much to her exceptionally healthy body; otherwise, even a serious fever might have quietly ended her life in bed.

“You will definitely meet someone who can see you, Su Weiyu… You have to keep going,” she forced a smile, encouraging herself.

Talking to herself was her habit. She had once lost normal speech because she had no one to talk to and spent a long time recovering.

She had thought about becoming mute if no one was to speak with her. But deep down, she harbored a small wish… what if?

What if there really was someone in this world who could see her?

If so, how would she greet them the first time they met?

“I’m Su Weiyu. Nice to meet you.” — This was her carefully refined opening line, revised countless times.

If.

If such a person really existed, she would become their most loyal companion, accompanying them to do anything they desired!

For her, that person and she would be the whole world, and that world would belong only to them!

So she traveled the world with the famous pirate’s compass, hoping it would guide her to what she sought—someone who could see her.

She watched the golden needle spin for 24 hours a day, losing appetite and sleep, imagining it suddenly stopping at some point!

Then she would follow that direction, walking and walking, circling the globe until she found the one who could see her!

...But in reality, the compass just kept spinning and spinning—three years passed, draining all her patience.

Until yesterday.

The compass suddenly stopped.

Su Weiyu was nearly ecstatic to the point of fainting.

But when she followed the compass’s guidance to the door of this house, she realized the potential danger.

She had checked all the records of this house at the Control Bureau and learned that it had once swallowed an S-rank investigator—a phenomenon clearly beyond her capability.

Should she enter?

Was the person she sought really inside?

She questioned herself without pause for a full minute.

At that moment, she had already sensed something vaguely.

But in the end, she still came in.

Now she was certain what her heart truly longed for then.

“Captain Sparro, you were right… perhaps what I’ve been longing for was not companionship, but death,” Su Weiyu said mockingly, gazing at the ever-rotating golden needle.

No sooner had she spoken than the golden needle on the compass stopped spinning again, pointing straight ahead!

Her pupils contracted sharply; her breath caught, her expression frozen like a dried oil painting.

Su Weiyu stood against the wall, squinting with a bewildered look.

Compass, oh compass… what do you mean?

Is it because I’ve made up my mind that you’re pointing me to my death?

Or… this time it’s really…

“Trust you once more?”

“Yes! Trust you once more!”

Su Weiyu, carrying a wild katana taller than herself, dashed wildly along the café ceiling.

Before the needle could move again, she had to find the person she had been chasing all this time!