MM Racing 043 Why are you alive?
043 Why are you alive?
On the dome, a huge and tormented face is carved, a face belonging to a dragon, surrounded by ancient patterns like twisted tree roots, as if it were an endless sacrifice.
These patterns reminded Aki of what she saw during her "spiritual vision" in the 3E exam, but they were even more complex. She wanted to take more photos, so she lowered the output pressure of the oxygen tank to prolong the time while waiting for Ye Sheng.
"Aki, your heart is racing. Are you alright?" Selma's slightly anxious voice came through the earpiece.
"I'm fine, just a little dizzy," Aki said.
As the flashes went off again and again, Aki's breathing became increasingly rapid. Her hand holding the camera began to tremble involuntarily, and the bronze patterns seemed to come alive, transforming into twisting venomous snakes that frantically burrowed into her brain along with her line of sight.
Lu Mingfei noticed something was wrong.
He instinctively activated his AT field outside his diving suit; the golden hexagonal halo shimmered, enough to insulate against the high pressure of deep water and all physical attacks.
But he was wrong.
The spiritual pollution of Bronze City is the accumulated resentment and poison of the Dragon King over thousands of years.
The AT field can reject external matter, but it cannot reject nightmares that arise from the cracks in the host's consciousness.
The sound of flowing water disappeared.
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With a clatter, a can of steaming black coffee rolled out of the vending machine.
Misato Katsuragi, wearing a red uniform jacket, bent down to pick up her coffee. Leaning against the wall, her eyes revealed the exhaustion of several sleepless nights, but when she looked at Lu Mingfei, she exuded a gentle and helpless charm unique to older sisters.
"Mingfei, come and take a rest." Her eyes were dark from staying up all night. She rubbed his tense shoulders. "I'm so sorry to have you and Shinji taking the lead. Adults' job is to keep the kids in the back."
She paused, and the lights in the corridor instantly turned dark red.
"On the battlefield, life and death sometimes don't depend on strength, but more like a coin toss. Both I and Jiazhi are prepared for the coin to land tails. As long as we can protect you children, even if it means being shattered to pieces, it's worth it."
She handed the coffee to Lu Mingfei, who reached out to take it, but Miri's hand suddenly froze.
Her gentle smile crumbled little by little, two streams of blood trickled down from the corners of her eyes, and her voice became as hollow as a ghost:
"But look, all the adults are dead, and even the children are gone. Unit-02 was torn to shreds, and Unit-01 wasn't spared either; we've all been turned into LCL."
She stared blankly at Lu Mingfei.
"Since everyone else is dead, why are you still alive?"
Lu Mingfei's pupils contracted sharply, and the coffee can slipped from his hand and fell to the ground, rolling gurgling into the darkness.
"I am the third." Rei Ayanami sat on the hospital bed. "If I die, there will be a vessel to replace me. My existence is only for the moment of completion. In this world, no one is irreplaceable. Human souls will eventually return to Lilith's egg, merging into one in the LCL solution, without pain or separation."
Lu Mingfei's throat tightened; he wanted to say something, but Li's body suddenly began to break down.
Her skin peeled away like a melting candle, turning into a nauseating orange LCL solution that dripped down the hospital bed. Her red eyes gradually lost their luster, and before completely dissolving into blood, she gazed silently at Lu Mingfei, looking at him with bewilderment:
"I am a consumable."
A beautiful, ethereal voice emanated from a pool of blood.
"But Lu Mingfei, you are clearly suffering and utterly worthless."
Why are you still alive?
"No..." Lu Mingfei subconsciously took a step back, cold sweat instantly soaking through his combat uniform.
They're all dead...
Shinji buried his face in his arms, trembling violently.
"Miss Misato is dead, Professor Akagi, Asuka, everyone's gone! I didn't want to be here, I didn't want to die. Why should we bear this burden? We didn't even finish school!"
The boy slammed his head against the control stick, then suddenly turned his face, his features contorted in a grotesque grimace, and screamed at the top of his lungs, "We fought so hard! Why are you the only one who survived?!"
"Ugh..."
Lu Mingfei felt as if his internal organs were being squeezed tightly.
He couldn't resist, nor could he refute. He was just a loser who only knew how to hide in the background; why should he survive by stepping on those who were braver and more outstanding?
His hand reached for the helmet buckle.
Why not untie it and let LCL flood in? Consider it returning our worthless lives to that Red Sea.
He felt he could finally do the right thing.
Lu Mingfei fell onto the wreckage of Unit 2.
Asuka lay in a pool of blood. The once proud and arrogant girl had her red hair tangled in black blood, and her entire body was almost mangled.
Lu Mingfei knelt beside her, tears streaming down his face uncontrollably.
Asuka struggled to open her eyes, her unfocused gaze finally settling on Lu Mingfei's face, her blood-stained fingers slowly inching forward.
"Fool……"
Her dry throat coughed up blood and foam, but her tone remained as harsh as ever:
"Who are you trying to fool with this pathetic look... You're just a logistics guy, do you think you're going to be the one dying on the front lines?"
With her last ounce of strength, she squeezed Lu Mingfei's hand tightly, the last glimmer of light burning in her blue eyes:
"Listen up, Lu Mingfei... Get the hell out of my sight and live a good life."
*Snap!*
It was like a giant glass mirror shattering in my mind.
Lu Mingfei loosened his hand from the buckle.
No, none of it is right!
Asuka never asked why he survived; she didn't even ask! That proud young lady protected him in the most stubborn way until her last breath.
That's not what they said at all!
"Mingfei, an adult's job is to protect children. As long as one person survives, our sacrifice is meaningful."
Thank you, Lu-kun. Live on, and go find the bonds you hold dear.
"If only one person can escape from here... Mingfei, take my share with you and escape. Don't ever go back to this hell!"
"Listen up, Mingfei... get the hell out of my sight. Live a good life."
None of them thought he deserved to die.
In their final moments, each of them desperately prayed that he would live.
They... actually all wanted him to live, they all liked him.
They used their broken bodies and souls to forcefully pull him out of that hopeless apocalypse, earning him a ticket to this peaceful world.
It's not over yet.
Since we've survived carrying their lives on our shoulders, it's not time for us to die so easily.
Lu Mingfei saw Aki, who was in a hallucination, kick the water hard and swim towards her.
"Damn it!"