ATAPOW Chapter 46
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Chapter 46: Are you willing to marry me?
As the crescent moon hung high up in the skies, darkness expanded and enveloped the entire night sky like a thick, heavy, airtight curtain. Flames that radiated out in all directions dyed half of it, foreordaining this night to be one without serenity.
The intuition that Ji Bai developed from his long time in the battlefield alongside his thoroughly tempered abilities had helped him temporarily commandeer a sleek, black Audi sports car from outside the surveillance cameras’ field of view. Using that, he was able to quickly arrive at the scene of the incident.
Under the concealment of the enveloping clouds, the fire that was seen everywhere appeared to be particularly unsightly.
After pulling the car to the side of the road, Ji Bai stepped out of it and shot a glance towards the ragged skyscraper in front of him, if one could still call it that. The top half of the building had already disappeared, and yet, it was solitarily standing there like a tree stump whose trunk had been chopped down.
At the cracks within the reinforced concrete was a group of raging flames that had no intention of going out. It seemed that Ji Bai didn’t arrive too late; instead, it could be said that he had come at just the right time for the main event.
The clueless humans on the street had all felt a sense of crisis as their bodies made a reactive response faster than their brains could ever do—Fleeing.
“Move, move! I’m actually the department manager! All of you should quickly cover my escape! I’ll promote you afterward!” A fat man dressed in a suit was trotting his short legs while towing his beer belly. As he coarsely panted for air while running, he shouted towards the security guards on one side, all who were similarly bent on fleeing. What made him feel despair was that the security guards who would normally bend their knees and act extremely deferential, didn’t pay any attention to him and spare him a single glance.
Just when he was feeling shocked and angry, his own shadow was gradually being covered by a massive shadow cast by the flame.
“Ahhh!!” He suddenly raised his head and saw a block of reinforced flaming concrete appearing above him. As the distance between them lessened, agitation and despair overtook him. The middle-aged man’s complexion turned reddish-purple as his voice appeared to break.
【Watcher’s Fury】
As the situation hovered in the middle of life and death, a violent wind pressure which was shortly followed by a terrifyingly sharp edge flashed past. The lump of cement that was hovering on top of the middle-aged man’s head instantly turned into fluttering, fine powder.
Ji Bai stood up and placed his longsword onto his shoulder. He turned his head and saw the dull and lifeless middle-aged man, who was currently twitching non-stop in the corner of his eye.
‘It’s fine if I didn’t look at him, but now that I have taken a closer look. Isn’t this an acquaintance? Isn’t this the self-proclaimed ‘wise-man’ whom, when I applied for a post as a security guard, arrogantly imparted a lot of “life experiences” to me? However, seeing his current appearance… he probably forgot about me already, right?’
“Ah, ah! Youngster! You did a good job! In the future, I’ll give you a prize certificate and a flower1. Let me go get some reinforcements. You stay here and try to hold the line.” As if he had awoken from a dream, the middle-aged man only just realized that this was an excellent chance for him to preserve his life. Since there was such a passionate blockhead here to soak up the dangers for him, why shouldn’t he utilize the moment? As for his talk of reinforcements and whatnot, it was naturally just to have him persist for a while longer, just so he could cleanly secure the opportunity to run away. It was nothing but a lie!
Ji Bai didn’t bother with the middle-aged fatty, who was still currently trotting his legs in a hurry to be on his way. He wasn’t aware of the scheme the man cooked up in his mind. However, even if he were to know what the fatty’s heart was thinking, he would still resolutely save him nonetheless.
After all, the duty of a knight was to protect the people.
Once he raised his head, a massive figure flashed past the split of the skyscraper where the cement block had previously fallen from.
It wasn’t human.
As an ominous glint flitted past Ji Bai’s eyes, he went into the opposite direction of the crowd who ran away and headed towards the entrance of the building.
“Eh!? Little brother, run for it! A terrorist organization attacked this company, you’d be throwing your life away if you go in now!” A security guard who was running away saw Ji Bai, the latter was just about to enter the building. He froze for a moment and hastily urged him not to waste his life.
“Has everyone inside the building completely evacuated?” Ji Bai turned his head over, his eyes flickered in seriousness.
“Ah? They probably evacuated already? …Speaking of which, I didn’t seem to see the Second Missus …Eh? Hold on little brother, where are you going?”
After using his sword hilt to directly smash the inoperable automatic glass doors into pieces, Ji Bai leaped into the building that was almost reduced to ruins.
In a situation where all the lights had gone dark, it was a given that the lift was inoperable. He could only rely on his own two feet to climb the stairs.
…………….
“…Eh?” Amidst the dilapidated walls in the ruins, a petite golden-colored figure slightly wriggled about.
With filth staining her adorable tiny face, the golden-haired girl was unaware of how long she had been unconscious. She only remembered directing the evacuation of the employees when disaster befell this building. Unknowingly, however, someone shoved her and had somehow knocked her head against the office desk, causing her to lose her consciousness.
A pain that felt like her brain was bursting accompanied her clearheadedness after the coma, causing her to let out an unbearable groan.
She wanted to move her body, and yet, she found that her body was completely unresponsive to her orders. It was almost as if this body didn’t belong to her at all. What’s more, the luxurious dress on her body had been torn beyond recognition while the bodyguards that were at her side, who were usually following her, were nowhere to be found. At this moment, she felt as if she had seemingly lost everything.
However, there wasn’t a trace of despair found in her eyes. Her small, trembling, and sludge-covered hands extended into her collar, she unhurriedly pulled out a jeweled pendant that was designed in the style of a knight’s helmet.
“You… you will definitely rescue me, r-right? L—Like how you did when I was young.”
‘Like how you did, when I was young…’
“Are you alright little girl?” When she was young, a situation happened back then that was similar to the one currently. As dark despair occupied her heart back then, a lofty silhouette appeared in her vision. His face was hidden behind a knight’s helmet with a long tassel decorated with the wings of a sparrowhawk, while the rest of his body was completely covered in knight armor. Despite the icily cold tactile sensation of his armor, her heart gradually warmed up from the way he carried her young self like a princess. He was the bright spot amidst this despair, the flame that set her lifeless heart aflame.
“Big brother knight… I’m probably going to die…”
“Hmm? Why? Can you tell me about it?” The knight curiously moved his head, which was enclosed in a helmet closer to her.
“Such a heavy wound… is incurable.”
“Hahaha! If God was to let such an adorable girl die such an untimely death, I will definitely not forgive him! With me here, they won’t be able to harm you anymore the slightest bit. So, may I ask this little princess to stay in my embrace for a while? Just a little while will do.” The knight laughed in a bright manner, his tone gradually turned into one that was firm and reliable.
“Then… If I’m able to survive, will big brother knight agree to take me as his wife?…” The eyes of the young girl began to glow with vigor once more.