Chapter 514: Untitled
As Eleven’s body was extremely badly wounded, she was not in a suitable shape to travel afar. Su Man, Anya, and company were on the island for almost ten days until Eleven’s condition had slightly improved. Eleven, after recuperating for close to ten days, still looked pale but she had largely recovered from her wounds thanks to Su Man patching her up.
While Eleven was typically solemn and of few words, she became even more solemn than before and would speak less than a few sentences each day. When Ye Wei used to be by her side, she would speak much more in comparison to how she was now. Without Ye Wei beside her, Eleven had nobody to talk to her to relieve her boredom. She seemed to have lost an able assistant. Even Cheng Anya was unable to keep a conversation with Eleven going, and Eleven would spend most of her time in the courtyard of the waterside pavilion, quietly watching the water without anybody knowing what’s on her mind.
It seemed as though everything that happened in the world had nothing to do with her.
The unstable tectonic plates resulted in occasional earthquakes. The earthquake today seemed especially large, and Cheng Anya went to awaken Eleven, who would normally be sleeping in the afternoon, thinking that Eleven did not know there was an earthquake. The huge earthquake caused the surroundings to shudder relatively intensely. The cracking of wood could be somewhat heard. Cheng Anya, with her bulge slightly more obvious, was still able to sprint relatively quickly toward the waterside pavilion.
Several parts of the waterside pavilion had collapsed, and the cups and kettles on the table had already rolled onto the floor. The waterside pavilion was thankfully constructed of bamboo, so there was no casualty as the collapsed portions were not heavy.
The surroundings looked terrible.
“Eleven, why are you still sleeping? There’s an earthquake. Let’s hurry.” Cheng Anya grabbed Eleven and ran out with her. Eleven seemed to be awoken by the chaos and knew that there was an earthquake.
In comparison to Cheng Anya, who seemed much more nervous, Eleven seemed much more calmer and even took her time to wear her shoes. “Relax, there’s still time,” she calmly said.
Cheng Anya was at a loss as to whether to cry or laugh as she waited for Eleven to wear her shoes. A sudden and violent shaking caused the entire roof to collapse, and Cheng Anya subconsciously covered her stomach in shock.
As the shaking was too immense, the bridge in the waterside pavilion broke in the middle.
“Oh, no, how do we get up?”
Eleven calmly looked at the damage and the violently shaking surroundings. Cheng Anya was almost thrown into the water. Eleven thankfully wrapped her long arm around Cheng Anya’s waist and tugged with some force. What happened left Cheng Anya in a daze.
She felt a slight tug on her waist as she was lifted up several feet into the air. She was, in the blink of a moment, on the shore and was still shocked and at a loss from what happened.
She estimated that the shore she landed on was about ten-over meters away from where she had been. She had, in a swoop, ended up on the shore.
That was definitely too magical, no?
Cheng Anya was agape. Eleven seemed to have pulled her up. Was this the legendary ‘qinggong’ in Jin Yong’s martial arts novels?
It was little wonder she described it as timely since the entire waterside pavilion collapsed at this moment.
Eleven, without even batting an eyelid, saw Cheng Anya’s shocked look and knew what was on Cheng Anya’s mind as she calmly watched on. The benefit of the mutation was the incredible speed and strength it imparted to her, and she needed not to mention how she was no longer quite a human.
Given her physique and strength, she would have had some difficulty carrying and leaping that high with Cheng Anya in tow.
“Eleven, did you master ‘qinggong’?” Cheng Anya looked on with a look of worship. She knew that Eleven and Ye Wei were aggressive, but this was the first time she saw it in person.
When they watched television in the television room when they were younger—as there was only one television in the entire village—most of the TV dramas played were martial arts dramas. Miss Cheng, watching the people in the drama fly, was awed and really hoped she could leap and fly like them someday.
“That was even faster than I had imagined.” Su Man’s voice plainly came from behind. Cheng Anya turned back in shock to discover both Su Ruhua and Su Man were present. Su Ruhua looked at Eleven as though she was looking at an alien.
This was probably the first successful cyborg.
Eleven had a cold look on her face that Cheng Anya did not quite comprehend. As Su Man slowly walked over, she then understood what was going on and could not put a finger on how she felt. When she turned to look at Eleven’s indifferent face, she only felt heartbroken.
How could such a beautiful girl never have a day of peace since young? Her toughness from a life of fighting and killing was so heartrending. How could something this incredulous happen to her?
“It’s nothing.” Eleven seemed to guess what was on Cheng Anya’s mind and came over to console her. “This is actually better. The terrorist organization just happens to need a killing machine.”
It needed a killing machine to go toe-to-toe against the Mo brothers.
If the rest of them were to become like her, she would rather be the only one who became like this as she, unlike the rest, was much less bound than them.
Cheng Anya felt even sadder.
Su Ruhua clapped her hands. “Since the house is in ruins, let’s leave.”
As earthquakes would actually happen on the island, most of the houses on the island were made from bamboo. The earthquake, while huge, had passed and nobody was injured or dead. Only the houses were slightly damaged.
Since Eleven was fit to travel, Su Man already had this intention because he did not plan to remain on the island.
The butler paid a family on the island in gold to restore this mansion. Everybody soon packed up. They did not bring much with them when they left just like how they did not bring much with them when they came.
Su Ruhua and Su Man were not traveling together, so there were two boats berthed by the shore.
“Sis, you’ve been searching high and low for all these years. For all you know, they may have been dead. Just give up.”
Ever since he had a memory, Su Man knew that Su Ruhua had always been exiling herself as she sought for something. He now knew who she was looking for: Mo Shitian and Su Ruyu. But hearsay had it that these two died twenty-over years ago.
Since there was no news for so many years, she should give up all hope.
Su Ruhua gently smiled and looked into the horizon of the ocean. “As long as I am alive, I will never stop searching.”
Beauty Su did not agree with Su Ruhua’s thoughts, but the latter broke into an easy-going smile and tapped Su Man’s shoulders. “Man Man, you’re still young. Stop acting all cool. You have never experienced defeat, matters of the heart, and perhaps betrayal and the utter loss of hope. When you were still in diapers, your two sisters bore all on your behalf, and there will be many things you do not understand. If I stop searching for them, I will have a really vibrant life, but I won’t be able to face up to them even more then.”
As brother and sister bade farewell, Cheng Anya and Eleven stood far away. Eleven looked at Su Ruhua with questions she wanted to ask but eventually kept to herself. She would not reveal even the slightest traces of what she had promised people.
But…
“Anya, why are Su Man and Su Ruhua taking different routes? Ye Wei and I have known Su Man for a long time and we never knew that he has a sister.”
“I am feeling as strange too. I always thought Su Man was the only child.”
“He only has… a sister?”
Cheng Anya shook her head. “I don’t know, and probably so? I never heard Beauty Su mention anybody else, and it should just be the two of them. If you do the math, Beauty Su is just a year older than the Mo brothers. Just how old is Sister Beautiful?”
She was extremely baffled at the question.
“Forty-three,” Eleven flatly replied.
“That’s impossible. She looks as though she is in her twenties, maybe thirty-five to thirty-six considering her charm.” Cheng Anya could not simply believe that the beautiful sister was already forty-three.
It was simply unbelievable. If Sister Beautiful were indeed forty-three, she wanted to ask her how she maintained herself.
Eleven’s lips twitched. “Anya, I need a favor from you,” Eleven softly said to her.
“What is it?”
Eleven leaned down and whispered into Cheng Anya’s ear…
…
“Do not forget to tell Mo Jue not to harm Wei Wei. That said, I do not mind if you tell him off too.” Su Man reminded Su Ruhua on the other side.
“Got it. Your fingers are definitely curved outward.” Su Ruhua mused.
“Where are you headed to this time?”
“I don’t know. I’ll drift on the Atlantic Ocean for now and search island by island. I’m confident that I will be able to find them.” Su Ruhua sounded extremely determined. “Shitian and Ruyu are fans of living on the sea rather than on the flat ground. Chances are they are on that island if they are still alive. That said, the Su family has never liked living on flat ground, and those two rascals too.”
“Hmmph!” Su Man harrumphed.
“Sis, where exactly are they?”
“Give it up! I’ll never tell you.” Su Ruhua smiled. “I’m too lazy to bother about the affairs of you, younger people. If you want to find them, do it by your own strength.”
“If I get into a tussle with them someday, whose side will you be on?”
“I’ll be the cheerleader and judge.” Su Ruhua smiled. “Go, go, Man Man!”
Su Man coldly harrumphed while Su Ruhua laughed melodiously.
Su Man’s face blackened as he seriously replied, “The Mafia and the terrorist organization will duke it out someday. Fighting will break out everywhere, and everybody will be implicated.”
“That’s the brothers’ thing. Consider them following in their fathers’ footsteps and wanting to prove their ability by restoring the greatness during Shitian’s time,” Su Ruhua said. “Man Man, you’re a bystander to all these, understand?”
“Who said that I must be a bystander? For all you know…” Su Man paused and did not continue.
Su Ruhua raised her eyebrows. “Surely the person you fancy isn’t from the terrorist organization?” she asked in a slight surprise.
“No!” Su Man immediately replied and looked at her vehemently for a moment whilst looking slightly flustered. Su Ruhua felt that things were becoming even more incredulous.