Superman Termination Manual

Chapter 241: Chapter 164: Hell Cantata

“`

July 9th, at dusk, inside a private bar called “Inca Dream.”

The low and warm sounds of jazz enveloped the ears of every patron.@@novelbin@@

The interior of the bar was classically and meticulously decorated, with dim lights cascading from the chandeliers onto the wooden bar and leather seats. The walls were adorned with black and white photos full of a sense of the past.

“How strange… the bug inside Che Zhengchen’s body is gone, why?”

The red-haired girl sitting in a wheelchair murmured to herself, her head hung low, gently tapping the floor with her cane, producing a thumping sound.

Next to her, a man who could be described as a giant—standing over two meters tall, with black hair and eyes, a muscular build with sinewy muscles—sat at the bar, wiping a huge sword with a cloth, and calmly asked, “How could this be?”

Gastella turned her face toward him, let go of her cane and, resting her chin in her hand, said, “I don’t know, who knows what the Dice Monster is up to?”

The moment her gaze met his, Gastella’s eyes displayed her superhuman panel.

[Character Name: Flint]

[Danger Rating: A++]

[Character Codename: Blood Clan Hunter “F”.]

[Character Background Introduction: One of the remnants of the Hunters organization “Hell’s Chorale,” they are the Blood Clan Hunters who gain strength by consuming Blood Clan blood. However, during the campaign against the vampire progenitor “Queen Icaria,” nearly all members of Hell’s Chorale were wiped out.

As the top combat force of “Hell’s Chorale,” Flint’s body is extremely formidable, his physical fitness standing at the pinnacle of A-class superhumans.]

Flint lifted his rugged face and said to Gastella in a low tone, “Could you have been played by it?”

“I don’t know.”

Speaking softly, Gastella then lifted her fair hand to prop her chin, her eyelids drooping as she stared at the floor, gently tapping it with her cane.

“What exactly does that Dice Monster want? It seems to know I was growing a bug inside Che Zhengchen’s body, but why would it abduct Che Zhengchen, take the bug out, and then return him?”

She sighed, continuing to ponder.

“But what’s the point of that? Isn’t it supposed to want me to kill the blue owl for it? With its abilities, it could completely kill that superhero itself, so why insist on having me do it?”

Flint said, “It must be a trap.”

“I can see that,” Gastella curved her lips into a smile, “Looks like the Dice Monster is on the side of that player, the one hiding the vampires~”

“Fan Quan?”

“Not necessarily Fan Quan. I might have been duped, but anyway, as long as I catch all the players in this city within a month, it should be fine.”

Gastella spoke indifferently.

After a moment of silence, Flint said, “Once you catch them, what do you plan to do with those ‘players’?”

“You all are my family, Flint, you, Lin Ke, Howard too. And those players, to survive, will definitely become stronger at all costs and then come after you.”

Gastella rested her head on the bar, burying it in her arms, and whispered, “So, I must find them before that happens… and kill them all. That way no one will be able to hurt you.”

“But what I really want to know is, what about you?”

“I’ll die. I’ll die in a year.”

Flint’s mouth opened slightly, his expression becoming somewhat gloomy: “I don’t want you to die, Sisteruo.”

“Thank you, Flint. But without you, I would have died a long time ago.”

Gastella slightly curved her lips and said, “When I was thrown in the slums, unable to move my legs, with a Blood Clan vow cursed into me by the vampires, if you hadn’t saved me back then, I would have died a terrible death… No one would remember me, not even worth a struggle, just dead like that.”

She paused for a moment, gently tapping the wooden floor with her cane, speaking nonchalantly.

“In these ten years, you took me to many places, the Arctic, Antarctica, Iceland, the United States, England, places I never even dared to dream about… How vast the world is.

“So I’m already very content, having you by my side for so many years.”

Flint remained silent.

After a while, he finally spoke, “You’re also important to us. Lin Ke once said, when she first saw you lying on the ground in that slum, unable to move, a group of kids stole your food and tipped over your wheelchair. You fell to the ground and cried for a long time, reached out to her, and said, ‘Save me.'”

He paused, “Lin Ke said, back then she thought despite how dirty you were, you shone like an angel, so heartbreakingly bright, that if she didn’t take you with her, she would regret it forever, and be punished by God.”

“So she took you with her.”

“For the past ten years, we have treated you as our own sister. Among us, no one wants to lose you. Especially me, Sisteruo.”

At these words, Gastella fell silent for a moment, then lifted her head, looking directly into Flint’s eyes as she said.

“I’ll save all of you, just like you saved me. Even though you must think I’m strange, I’m a player… so only I know how dangerous those players are. Eventually, they will become unstoppable monsters, and then they will come to harm you.”

“`

“No, you really don’t have to do that.”

Flint paused, his tone awkward as he continued, “You… You’re not someone who likes to hurt others, Sisteruo. I don’t need you to hurt others for our sake.”

“But I can’t wait for someone who might hurt you to get stronger. I can’t do that, Flint,” Gastella repeated over and over as if to reassure herself.

“My only wish is to see the three of you well before I die. That would be enough for me.”

She lowered her gaze, her voice growing softer, “Even if it’s just for one year, being by your sides has already made me so happy.”

Flint hung his head, his giant face clouded with an indescribable sorrow. Eventually, he simply said hoarsely, “You’ll be with us afterward… We’ll always be together, never apart.”

“Yeah, I know your clan’s traditions. I hope that you’ll carry my ashes with you, so we can continue to travel together.”

Gastella said this with a happy smile, reaching out her hand to touch her leg which wouldn’t respond.

“Take me to see farther places, Flint.”

“I will,” he answered.

“After I die, don’t forget me, Flint.”

“I will,” he promised again.

“When the time comes, can you hold me, Flint? I’m actually quite scared of the thought of dying in a year.”

“I will,” he reassured her.

“Then sing me a song then.”

“I will,” he promised.

“Do you really… not think of me as an impostor at all, Flint?”

“No, I’m certain that you are Sisteruo. You are our angel,” he affirmed.

“But why does it have to be like this? The memories in my head keep telling me that I’m not Sisteruo, that I’m just someone who has stolen her life.”

“I… I’ve been with you for more than ten years. Lin Ke, Howard, and I watched you grow up bit by bit.”

Flint, clearly at a loss, spoke haltingly, “How could we not know it’s you, Sisteruo, you’ve just been affected by something.”

“So I am Sisteruo, right?”

“Right,” he confirmed.

“That’s wonderful. You know, in those memories that thing gave me, it told me I was a girl with cancer named ‘Iris,’ and my parents abandoned me because they couldn’t afford my medical bills.”

Gastella lifted her head, saying, “It hurts so much, so very much… Staying in that hospital room, staring at the same ceiling every day, looking at the hateful chimneys and eaves outside the window, it felt like the world was a prison. Then I just died, no one saved me… they all abandoned me…”

As she spoke, Gastella suddenly curved her lips into a smile, her eyes concealed by her drooping bangs, “But it’s good you told me that wasn’t true… that it’s just a false memory, that I still have you all.”

“I didn’t die at the age of nine. You took me out of that slum. You took me to so many places… The world seemed so vast, so enormous!”

The voice of the girl in the wheelchair was drowned in jazz music, somewhat unclear, but one could discern her soft cries.

“It’s not just about the bricks of slums, not just about the ceilings of hospital rooms. You showed me penguins, polar bears in Antarctica, you took me to see polar bears in the Arctic, the icebergs were magnificent! The Eiffel Tower was so beautiful! Turns out there are places in the world where it doesn’t snow, where there’s not just war, pain, suffering, and quarrels.”

“I feel so content. That girl who died in the hospital ward, even if she really existed, she must be content too.”

“Actually, I’m starting to have a hard time distinguishing who I am. Sometimes I feel like I’m Iris, and other times I think I’m Sisteruo…”

“So can you tell me who I really am, Flint?”

Gastella asked, slowly lifting her tear-filled eyes to stare motionlessly at Flint’s face.

Flint’s eyes darkened, and he opened his mouth slightly, his voice hoarse, “You are Sisteruo, our angel, the family member God has given us, irreplaceable.”

“So can you hug me?”

Flint was silent for a long time before his ponderous body leaned forward, embracing the girl in the wheelchair.

He whispered hoarsely into her ear, “Sisteruo, we will find that last vampire and remove the curse from you, to let you live.”

After a pause, certainty flashed in his eyes, “Then… although we still don’t understand what ‘the system’ is, and what ‘player’ means, we will make sure you live, not just this year. We want to be together always, to more places, farther away.”

“Thank you, Flint,” Gastella murmured, burying her head in Flint’s shoulder.

“You’ve been the kindest to me.”

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