Chapter 124: Ice and Fire Two Heavens

Two weeks later, Binzhou No. 5 Middle School.

In the classroom of Senior Year Class (2), most people had already dispersed. Only the rustling sound of the students on duty sweeping the floor remained, as well as that thin figure still leaning over the desk in the back row by the window.

Xu Yunzhou rubbed the back of his sore neck, closed the finished math mock exam paper, and was preparing to pack his schoolbag to go home.

"Xu Yunzhou! There's an international package for you! Just delivered from the reception room!"

The Life Committee member walked over holding a medium-sized cardboard box, her face full of curiosity,

"Sent from Nihon! You have foreign friends?"

"International package?"

Xu Yunzhou raised his head and took that cardboard box somewhat blankly.

The box wasn't heavy, but the packaging was exceptionally careful, the corners tightly taped with reinforcing tape.

The sender information column was a printed English address, from "Edo, Japan," and below the address, there was a handwritten capital letter—

"N"

The handwriting was clean and neat, even carrying a bit of stern force, completely different from an ordinary girl's graceful handwriting.

The recipient information was accurate without error:

Binzhou No. 5 Middle School, Senior Year Class (2), Xu Yunzhou.

He stared at that "N," rapidly searching in his memory bank.

Nihon? Distant relative? Or an international friend met when playing "World of Warcraft" before? ...A blank.

"Someone must have sent it to the wrong person..."

He muttered in a low voice, yet a strange feeling arose in his heart.

"Wow! From Nihon!"

A boy leaned over, staring at the postmark on the package,

"Xu Yunzhou, you hide your strength deeply!"

"Hurry up and open it to see! Is it a love letter from a Sakura girl?"

Another nosy classmate winked and made faces.

Opening the cardboard box, inside was cushioning filler, protecting a gift box with a dark blue velvet texture.

"This box... doesn't look cheap."

The Life Committee member sighed softly.

Xu Yunzhou opened the magnetic clasp of the gift box.

On the inside of the gift box lay a plain white card.

He pulled out the card.

There was only one line of text on it, using the same black ink, the handwriting exactly the same as the "N" outside the package, concise, restrained.

"Happy New Year, may you be safe and joyous, eat a lot without getting fat."

Pinching the card, Xu Yunzhou looked at it over and over again several times, his brows furrowing tighter and tighter.

Safe and joyous... eat a lot without getting fat?

This blessing, no matter how you listen to it, sounds more like a playful remark carrying a bit of intimacy said to a girl.

Used on him, a boy struggling in the hell of the college entrance exam, whose weight was perennially below the standard line, and who was nagged by his mom every day to "eat more food"... Isn't it a bit misplaced?

Did they really send it to the wrong person?

An extremely blurry shadow flashed through his mind without warning.

He subconsciously touched his chest—worn close to his body there was a small silver ornament, given by an older sister wearing a mask with a gentle voice many years ago.

Could it be her?

But that gentle voice in his memory seemed hard to connect with this neat, stern handwriting that almost carried a sharp edge before his eyes.

"Wow! High-grade chocolate! How much must this cost?"

"Xu Yunzhou, confess honestly! Do you have a secret girlfriend in Nihon? Transnational online dating, playing quite wildly!"

Xu Yunzhou's ear roots grew slightly hot from their talking, and he shook his head helplessly:

"Really not. I don't even know who the sender is."

He pointed at the card,

"Look, this blessing... it's definitely for a girl. After all, a blessing like 'eat a lot without getting fat' is simply a curse for someone like me who wants to gain weight."

He unwrapped it, took out a piece of black truffle nama chocolate, and put it in his mouth.

The bittersweet, rich, and mellow taste slowly melted on the tip of his tongue, silky and smooth.

Inexplicably, that exhausted and depressing mood of exam preparation seemed to be gently ironed out by this distant sweetness, and got better.

"...The taste is okay."

He evaluated feigning calmness, carefully covered the gift box, and along with that card, put it back into the cardboard box together,

"Probably someone got the address wrong. I'll check when I get back, see if I can find the true recipient."

Under the half-believing, half-doubting, and still curious gazes of his classmates, he stuffed the cardboard box into his schoolbag, put it on his back, and walked quickly out of the classroom.

It was just that later, in many late nights burning the midnight oil studying, when his eyelids were heavy and his thinking stagnant—

He would stop his pen and look out the window at the thick night.

On the tip of his tongue, that slightly bitter, mellow aroma seemed to rise again.

The corners of his mouth would involuntarily curve upward slightly.

The him at this time still didn't know what exactly this box of chocolate from distant Nihon, traversing the cold ocean and national borders, carried.

That was not a simple gift.

That was the cleanest and clumsiest wish a young girl could offer while struggling in blood and fire, darkness and loneliness.

It was the only remaining small piece of softness in her heart trained to be cold and hard, all the temperature and concern it could send out.

He even less knew that the sender signed "N" would, on a certain day in the future, barge into his life again in another identity and another way.

...

Time advanced silently.

Midsummer had arrived.

Crescent Group Secret Base.

Underground Level 4, Comprehensive Evaluation Room.

The cold white light made the metal tabletop gleam with cold light.

Instructor "Crow" pushed a thick evaluation report across the long table.

"Final assessment—"

She raised her eyes, her voice without any fluctuation:

"S-Rank."

"Theoretical subjects, all excellent."

"Close-quarters combat, mastery of core techniques of seven schools, over 90%. There is a shortcoming in strength, but speed, timing, weakness identification, and one-strike sure-kill success rate are extremely high."

"Firearms, moving target hit rate within fifty meters, 97%. In low-light and interference environments, stable at 90%."

"Infiltration and anti-tracking, intelligence shorthand and analysis, basic demolition and electronic countermeasures... all reached or exceeded the 'Crash Course Elite' standard line."

She paused.

Her gaze turned to the monitoring screen on the side.

In the footage, Kirigaya Nuo was conducting the final timed test in the obstacle climbing area.

Her figure was like a phantom.

Her movements were precise, efficient, without the slightest bit of excess. As if a precision machine born for slaughter was doing its final calibration.

"The most important thing is—"

Crow's voice deepened a bit.

"Psychological evaluation. High-pressure interrogation simulation, extreme environment tolerance, absolute execution of mission target priority... she showed no signs of wavering, compassion fatigue, or moral dilemmas."

Crow was silent for a second, spitting out the conclusion:

"So calm... she doesn't seem human."

Across the long table.

Gekka-ki slowly opened the report.

Her fingertips slid across lines of cold data, finally stopping on the scarlet "S" in the psychological evaluation column.

Her red lips hooked into a satisfied, almost demonic arc.

Very good.

Even more outstanding... than expected.

She submitted this report to the highest leader of the Crescent Group—Tsukuyomi.

(TL: Tsukuyomi is the Japanese moon god.)

In the encrypted communication channel, Tsukuyomi quickly replied, his voice processed through a voice changer, carrying a non-human, bizarre resonance:

"This girl... is somewhat interesting."

He paused, his tone carrying some playful exploration:

"It's just that, she's still a girl, right?"

Gekka-ki immediately understood his meaning, bowing her head and responding:

"Reporting to Moon God, yes."

"Untouched by human affairs, a flawless body."

Tsukuyomi's voice couldn't be heard for emotion:

"This is not a good phenomenon. Having never experienced lust, one is even less able to resist lust."

He said flatly:

"Adding various risks for nothing."

Gekka-ki nodded, her tone respectful:

"Subordinate understands."

She remembered too clearly.

When she first debuted back then, the organization arranged for five men to enter her room at the same time.

Under the beautiful name of "breaking obsession, tempering the mind, cutting off mortal ties."

The faces of those men had long blurred for her.

Only remembering different breaths, different weights, different methods.

Remembering the red recording indicator light on the camera, glaring unscrupulously.

Remembering those saved videotapes, becoming the leverage and reins forever held in the organization's hands.

She was powerless to resist, and wasn't even allowed to resist.

She could only endure silently, thoroughly burning the last bit of shame, tenderness, and fragility belonging to a "human" into ashes.

That was the tempering—or rather, the brand—that members of the Crescent Group must experience.

From then on, she was no longer a "woman."

Just a weapon of slaughter.

Gekka-ki raised her eyes, looking at the young girl in the monitoring screen who was doing final stretching, her figure thin but straight, the lines of her neck clean and neat.

Her eyes were complex and hard to describe.

Nuo...

Are you ready to receive your coming-of-age ceremony?