Chapter Twenty: Leap of Faith

Liu Mengchao crouched down, holding Alice tightly in one arm, while his other hand rested on the edge of the platform. The Eagle Vision from Assassin’s Creed not only revealed the hostility of others, but when standing at a great height, his eyes became like high-speed cameras, taking in every detail of the world below and imprinting it upon his mind.

He closed his eyes for a moment, and in his mind, the entire map of the city unfolded. Every skyscraper, every alley, every river—each one seemed carved meticulously into a model and etched into his memory.

“Brother, what are you looking at?” Alice, clinging tightly to his neck, asked in a nervous whisper. She dared not glance downward; even this innocent little girl was terrified by the two-hundred-meter drop below.

“A location,” he replied.

Liu Mengchao slowly rose to his feet. One step forward and he would plummet, but he stood steady; the narrow ledge beneath his feet felt as broad as a hundred-meter platform.

“Do you see over there, Alice?” he asked, pointing into the distance.

Just then, a column of flame shot into the sky where he pointed.

Jackpot amount: 210,000!

Smiling as he watched the jackpot rise, Liu Mengchao realized the point-farming Reincarnators were in trouble.

“This isn’t my fault,” he murmured softly.

“Brother, who would blame you?”

“A bunch of meat on the chopping block,” he replied, ruffling Alice’s pink hair as he straightened up.

He had chosen this spot carefully. Directly across from him was a fountain, not large—about the size of two living rooms. But it was enough for him. Behind him, the zombies moaned one after another, pounding their rotting hands against the iron door Liu Mengchao had closed.

Creak—

After a harsh screech, the door was pulled open.

“Brother, I’m scared.”

“If you’re frightened, just close your eyes,” Liu Mengchao soothed her with a gentle smile.

Alice obediently nodded, shutting her eyes tightly and clutching his collar, refusing to let go.

“Alice, let me tell you a secret,” he said, gazing down at the fountain.

“When others blindly chase after truth and reality, remember—nothing is true.”

He stepped forward with his left foot, the wind caressing his cheek like a lover.

“When others are bound by law or morality, remember—everything is permitted.”

His feet together, the wind wrapped around him like ribbons.

“Brother, what did you just say?” Alice asked timidly.

“It’s the Creed of the Assassin,” he replied.

With those words, he leaped.

Anyone else jumping from two hundred meters would have been smashed to pieces, but Liu Mengchao was different. As he recited the Assassin’s Creed, he felt a gentle breeze swirl about him, as if invisible wings had sprouted from his back.

In midair, his body unfurled, carrying Alice with him as they spun gracefully until they were facing skyward.

“Brother, are we flying?” Alice, still too scared to open her eyes, asked in a trembling voice, relying on the rush of wind in her ears.

Liu Mengchao didn’t answer. He marveled at the exquisite song the wind sang as it rushed past, and how the world seemed to race backward around him.

“The scenery is quite nice,” he remarked with a smile, spreading his arms wide. In an instant, he felt another current of air, slow but steady, lift him from below like a rocket’s booster, slowing his descent.

Thump—

With a muffled splash, Liu Mengchao landed in the water.

“Brother… have we reached the ground?”

Even after hearing the loud crash, Alice still dared not open her eyes.

“Yes, we’re here,” Liu Mengchao replied, rising from the fountain. The distant zombies paid no heed to the noise, as if nothing had happened at all.

“So this is the Leap of Faith from Assassin’s Creed?” Liu Mengchao laughed, helping Alice out of the water and drying the droplets from her hair.

“You still have the box, right, Alice?”

“Yes!” Alice proudly produced a metal box from her arms.

“Brother, all the herbal medicines you asked me to find are inside. None of them got wet! And I didn’t take the wrong ones—Mama’s been teaching me the names for days now.”

Grinning, Alice opened the box.

“Brother, look—here’s licorice, euphorbia, knoxia root, seaweed, and Daphne flower. I put them on the first layer.” She lifted the tray beneath. “These are aconite, fritillaria, trichosanthes, pinellia, white bryony, and bletilla. The bottom layer has hellebore, ginseng, glehnia, red sage, figwort, asarum, and peony.”

“Well done.” Liu Mengchao nodded approvingly, scooping her up in his arms.

Her petite form felt weightless to him.

“Brother, where are we going?” Alice asked.

“With a big brother, there must also be a big sister. I’m taking you to meet her,” Liu Mengchao replied, a smile lighting his face. He cherished innocent smiles and pure eyes, perhaps because he’d seen too many ugly masks of humanity, and so he treasured beautiful things all the more.

“Hold on tight.”

He gave Alice a gentle reminder, then with a light run-up, vaulted the tall wall with one hand, landing atop it.

“Brother, you’re amazing…” Alice’s wide eyes sparkled with wonder as she looked around. “Are you a ninja? How did you get on the roof so quickly?”

“Ninja?” Liu Mengchao sneered.

“No.”

As the word left his lips, he was already on the move. Like springs were fitted to his feet, he bounded from rooftop to rooftop, his soles seemingly coated with ultra-sticky glue, making even the narrowest ledges a breeze.

Liu Mengchao ran with perfect balance. Alice loved the warmth, closing her eyes to smile as she swayed gently in his arms.

“Brother, how much farther do we have to go?”

“How far?” Liu Mengchao paused. The temporary shelter where Qi Xiaoxiao and Saeko Busujima were waiting was just ahead.

“Very soon,” he replied with a smile.

“How soon is ‘very soon’?”

“Count to ten.”

His mood soared as he raced across the rooftops, the zombies below wandering aimlessly while he dashed above them, free.

With a nimble somersault, Liu Mengchao landed in the courtyard of the temporary base, Alice still in his arms.

Creak—

A soft sound, and the second-floor window slid open.

Saeko Busujima, wearing an apron, leaned on the railing, chin in hand, and smiled down at Liu Mengchao. “Welcome home.”

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It’s clearly Saturday, so why do I have to attend class all day? It makes no sense… damn. This chapter will have to rely on Scheduled Update-kun…

Yesterday, I didn’t get home until ten-thirty after class… By the way, I wanted to ask, are there any loli in the group who write R18 stories…?

Thanks for the generous tips from Hidden Scar, Siyu, Starry Memoir, Otaku Bug, Madman the Fallen, Ye Feiye, Victorica8, Outstanding 2B Youth, Drugged Ouyang Feng, Virtual Color, Letting Go Chen, Rainbow’s Transition, and the one-who’s-definitely-not-an-H-loli.