Chapter 47 - Gepard: Are You Polite?

"What is righteous… what is deviant? Wende, have you thought about it?"

"Master" sat atop a mountain peak, gazing at the sea of clouds below as he posed the question to Wende, who sat beside him.

Before Wende could answer, "Master" answered his own question.

"In this world, there is no inherent righteousness, nor is there inherent deviance. Deviance is righteousness, and righteousness is deviance…"

The so-called Yin and Yang can transform into one another. There is Yang within Yin, and Yin within Yang…

Wende, you must remember, the medical arts you have learned are not merely for healing the sick and saving lives. They are the path of "Equilibrium" that I have synthesized over many years. Although you and I cannot walk that mysterious Path, you have another, brighter road ahead of you.

Seeing the confusion in Wende's eyes, Master smiled and patted him on the back.

By the time he had understood this, it was already too late for him…

The Yin and Yang within his body had already broken their "equilibrium." When the white, symbolizing "life," overwhelmed the black, symbolizing "death"… that would be the day of his departure.

And that day… was not far off.

"This is a dead-end game… and I have chosen to stand the coin on its edge…"

"You must remember, you are special. You can grasp the intersection between Yin and Yang…"

"Wende… Wende?"

March's voice gradually seeped into Wende's ears, pulling him back from his reverie.

"What's wrong? Are you not feeling well?"

March's pink-and-blue eyes looked at Wende with concern.

"I… I'm fine. I was just thinking about something."

Shaking his head, Wende stopped dwelling on the new memory…

"We're almost at the city wall. When we get there, I'll count to three, and we'll vault over the wall and make a break for it!" Serval said to the group, looking at the approaching outer defensive line of Belobog.

"Err… vault over the wall?" Stelle scratched her face, sounding uncertain.

"Mhm, that's right. We vault over," Serval nodded as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"Err… oh, okay."

Stelle nodded blankly, then for some reason, did a little hop on the spot.

"Hey! What are you doing! Someone's looking over here!"

March quickly grabbed hold of Stelle, who was about to try again, and hissed at her under her breath.

"Sorry… I, I just wanted to see if I could jump…"

Stelle looked aggrieved. Although her expression was hidden by the guard's helmet, Wende knew… this child truly couldn't control herself…

"What nonsense are you talking about! You don't lack knees, of course you can jump," Seele, who had been listening to their conversation, chimed in matter-of-factly.

"..."

"I think we should change the subject…"

Seeing the look of serious contemplation on Stelle's face, Wende quickly shut the topic down. He couldn't have her suddenly attaining some "true meaning of life" and letting the "Fourth Calamity" players in the real world discover that their protagonist had a "Z-axis."

"Beep-beep. Reserve Third Battalion, please wait here."

The "instructor" leading the way turned and informed the group, then headed back into the Restricted Zone.

It had completed its current task; there were other new recruits who needed its guidance.

Watching the other reservists rest on the spot, Wende's group also found an empty space and sat down.

Serval sat on the cold floor, observing the towering city wall. Perhaps she had been a bit rash earlier. This kind of wall looked impossible to climb…

No wonder Belobog had stood firm for seven hundred years. Although the spread of the Fragmentum was unstoppable, the city had never lost an inch of ground on the front lines defended by the Silvermane Guards.

"Let's observe for a bit longer," Dan Heng said with a shake of his head.

An unknown amount of time passed…

A commotion suddenly broke out among the reservists at the back. The recruits who had been resting all spontaneously stood up in a line and gave a military salute to the person approaching.

"Sigh, looks like we've really been discovered," Serval said with a helpless shake of her head.

"Serval! What do we do!"

Seeing the imposing figure of Gepard in the crowd, March looked frantically at Serval, who was still disguised as a guard.

"What's there to be afraid of? So what if we're discovered? Worst case, we just fight again!"

Seele's gaze was fixed on the approaching Gepard.

"But…"

March was about to say more but was cut off by Serval.

"March, don't worry. Leave this to me."

She took off her helmet, revealing her golden-gradient hair. A smile played on her lips.

The scene changed. The group was now at the main gate of the front line. Serval had said something to Gepard—the players only saw Gepard's complicated expression, and then he personally escorted them out of the Restricted Zone.

"This… What on earth did Serval say to Gepard? Why would Gepard personally send us out? This… this plot doesn't feel right, does it?"

Kakaya, who was livestreaming his playthrough, scratched his head in confusion.

He suddenly couldn't understand the plot anymore. Had he been addled by all his recent data-crunching? Did he miss something?

[This is incredible. Is this really the same iron-faced, impartial Gepard from the closed beta?]

[I think it's fine. Although I don't know what Serval said, this version of Gepard feels more human. Even if his role as a little brother got cut down a lot. (lol)]

[Nonsense plot, so confusing. The miHoYo writers have lost their touch!]

[Tsk tsk tsk, here we go again. You guys get hives if you don't stir up trouble for one day, don't you?]

[Lol, if you had actually paid attention to the new version of the story, you wouldn't be saying this.]

[True. If you were Gepard, what would you choose?]

[Gepard's position… it's just too contradictory. No matter what he does, it's the wrong choice.]

[Damn it! I came here to watch Kakaya be a clown! Not to watch you guys start a flame war!]

[Kakaya: Are you polite?]

[Sigh, the Landau family… none of them have it easy.]

Seeing all sorts of arguments flying in his stream chat, Kakaya instantly realized his slip of the tongue. But it was too late to salvage the situation. The best he could do was deflect.

"Hey, hey! Hold on! Bros! When I said it wasn't right, I didn't mean the story was wrong, I meant the process was wrong!" Kakaya clapped his hands to get the chat's attention.

"We haven't even fought Gepard yet! How did we just get out!"

[Oh! That's right! I knew something was missing. We didn't fight Gepard!]

[Gepard: You son of a xxxxx]

[Hiss… That's reasonable!]

[True, not beating up Gepard does feel a bit off. They should revise this part again.]