69novels Page 135
Page 135
The only sound in the entire venue was the steady breathing that rose and fell, like a huge sleeping tomb.
In this eerie silence, only one figure stood out.
He remained seated in the front row, his posture completely out of place among the sleeping crowd around him. His eyes were clear, and his face showed no sign of intoxication or confusion.
Upon closer inspection, two inconspicuous clumps of what appeared to be specially made soundproofing material had been inserted into his ears at some point.
He didn't listen to Uta's singing at all.
From the very beginning, he shut out the medium that could draw people into the spiritual world.
His gaze swept calmly over the sleeping crowd around him, then turned to the empty stage, as if he were waiting for something.
Backstage, Uta's private lounge.
Uta appeared, staggering, her face pale and her breathing unsteady. Forcibly maintaining such a large-scale mental world, especially the intense emotional fluctuations after the interruption, had taken a heavy toll on her.
She walked quickly to a small, exquisitely locked box and opened it with slightly trembling hands.
Inside, several brightly colored and uniquely shaped mushrooms lay quietly—the Sleepless Mushroom.
This is the medicine that enables her to continuously create and maintain her mental world.
By taking it, she can resist sleep and devote more energy and even vitality to building that "perfect world".
As long as she doesn't sleep, she can...
It won't cause a mental breakdown!
She picked up a sleepless mushroom and, without the slightest hesitation, opened her mouth to eat it...
Chapter 162 Is it worth it?
Just as the sleepless mushroom was about to touch Uta's lips, a steady and powerful hand silently reached out and precisely grasped her wrist.
The movement was gentle, yet carried an undeniable force, preventing her from putting the mushroom into her mouth.
Uta was startled and abruptly looked up!
What came into view was a man with a calm face and deep eyes.
What alarmed her most was that his ears were stuffed with specially made soundproofing material!
He... wasn't affected by her singing at all! He saw through everything from the very beginning?!
"Who are you?!"
Uta's voice carried a hint of panic and sternness at being caught out of her secret, "How did you get here?! How did you know what I was going to do?!"
Liu Jiu's gaze calmly fell on her face. Even though he couldn't hear her voice, he could understand her meaning from the opening and closing of her lips and her eyes.
He didn't answer her question, but simply shook his head slightly. His deep gaze seemed to penetrate her feigned composure, revealing the stubbornness and vulnerability deep within her heart.
His lips moved slightly, the sound soft, yet clearly reaching Uta's ears, carrying a knowing calmness:
"Maintaining a virtual paradise by overdrawing one's life force..."
"does it worth?"
Uta's pupils constricted sharply, his heart feeling as if it had been gripped tightly by an invisible hand! He... he even knew about the side effects of the Sleepless Mushroom?!
"What do you know?!" Uta, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, excitedly tried to break free from his hand, her voice tinged with hysteria.
"Only there! In my world! Is there true peace! Is there beauty that will never betray, never harm! Reality...reality only brings pain and separation!"
She thought of the Red-Haired Pirates, Shanks, and the past she couldn't face.
Liu Jiu's hand remained steady, his eyes unwavering, as if stating a perfectly simple fact:
"I am Liu Jiu."
He gave his name in a calm tone, yet it inexplicably made Uta feel a sense of pressure.
"Your life has just begun, and you have a long and vibrant youth ahead of you."
His gaze swept over her young yet already haggard face. "Why... do you have to keep hiding in a dream you've woven for yourself?"
“Dream?” Uta seemed to be stung by the word. She struggled violently, tears of obsession welling up in her eyes.
"That's not a dream! That's reality! It's the ideal world I created for everyone! As long as I keep singing, as long as I eat the Sleepless Mushroom, I can bring happiness to everyone! Eternal happiness!"
"Everyone can live in that world forever... There will be no more war, no more hunger, no more being treated like cattle and horses, and everyone can study or travel as they please, achieving universal harmony!"
Her voice grew louder and louder, filled with an almost obsessive fervor.
Liu Jiu looked at her quietly without refuting her; she did indeed have the ability to do so.
The "Song-Song Fruit" possesses world-destroying power; it is officially recognized as the second Devil Fruit capable of destroying the world, following Whitebeard's Tremor-Tremor Fruit.
He still held her wrist, stopping her from eating the "sleepless mushrooms" and taking the next step toward self-destruction.
The air in the lounge seemed to freeze.
Seeing that she couldn't break free from Liu Jiu's grasp, a fierce glint flashed in Uta's eyes. In the real world, she couldn't act as freely as she did in the spiritual world, but that didn't mean she was powerless!
Her singing had already drawn the consciousness of tens of thousands of audience members into her world. Their bodies, at this moment, were like sleeping puppets, still faintly connected to her will!
"Let me go!" Uta growled at Liu Jiu, while simultaneously concentrating his mind to issue commands to the sleeping "puppets".
"Everyone, there's a bad guy here! Please come and protect me! Drive this rude person away!"
Her command spread like ripples.
The concert venue, in that area that had fallen into an eerie slumber.
The audience members, who had been listening attentively with engrossed smiles, began to twitch and twist their bodies unnaturally.
Their eyes remained closed, but the peaceful smiles on their faces gradually became stiff, empty, and even tinged with a hint of ferocity.
Like marionettes, they stood up stiffly and unsteadily.
One, ten, a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand...
Densely packed, like an awakened legion of the dead, they silently and slowly converged towards the backstage lounge.
Their steps were heavy and synchronized, their arms outstretched unnaturally as if trying to grasp something. There were no shouts, no screams, only an eerie silence and the rustling sound of countless feet scraping the ground.
The manipulated "crowd" quickly surged outside the lounge, banging on the door with their bodies and scratching at the walls and door panels with their stiff hands, making dull and continuous noises.
Bang...bang...bang...
The sounds of scratching and banging echoed like death knells in the silent backstage area of the venue.
Inside the lounge, Uta heard the commotion outside. A smug smile appeared on her pale face as she looked at Liu Jiu, her eyes filled with provocation.
"Did you hear that? This is my power! If I want, everyone outside can become my shield, my weapon! Let me go! Otherwise... I don't mind letting those outside tear you apart with their own hands!"
She tried to coerce Liu Jiu into submission through words.
Liu Jiu didn't even look at the doorway, even though the scene outside was chilling.
His gaze remained calmly fixed on Uta's face, as if the surging "zombie" crowd was nothing more than an insignificant storm outside the window.
His fingers didn't loosen at all.
"Let go...!"
Looking at his unwavering expression and listening to the increasingly frequent and frantic banging outside the door, Uta's initial fear was gradually replaced by a nameless panic.
What does this man want to do?
Isn't he afraid at all?
Or perhaps it's because the puppets outside haven't flooded in yet?
But why did he look at her as if she were a... lost child?
Is the sense of security gained by manipulating others really what you want?
Liu Jiu's calm questioning was like ice water poured over his head, making Wuta shudder.
at this time--
The not-so-sturdy door of the lounge finally shattered under the relentless, painless impacts of the countless "puppets"!
A dense crowd, with empty eyes and distorted faces, surged in like a burst dam, their stiff arms reaching straight for Liu Jiu, as if to tear this "rude scoundrel" to pieces!
"Hmph, are you scared yet? If you beg for mercy now... I might let you go, and even invite you to live in my [Uta World]!"
A hint of pleasure flashed in Uta's eyes. She wanted to see what would happen when faced with thousands of manipulated "fans".
Can this man still maintain that damn calm?!
They're practically like people detached from this world.
However, just as countless hands were about to touch Liu Jiu's clothes—
An indescribable, terrifying pressure, seemingly originating from the depths of the soul, erupted from Liu Jiu's center, like a volcano that had been dormant for billions of years suddenly bursting forth!
Chapter 163 The Demon King of Song
Om-! ! !
The air froze! Time seemed to stand still at that moment!
The surging "crowd" was as if struck by an invisible giant hammer; those at the forefront froze instantly, their empty eyes replaced by extreme fear, and then—
Pfft!Pfft!Pfft!
Like felled wheat stalks, they rolled their eyes back, foamed at the mouth, and collapsed limply to the ground!
Not only in the lounge, but this overwhelming Conqueror's Haki spread out like a shockwave, reaching the corridor outside the door and even the entire concert venue... All the audience members who were controlled by Uta and rushed in like zombies, in the face of this absolute kingly majesty, were like fallen leaves swept by a storm, instantly losing consciousness and collapsing to the ground!
In the blink of an eye, the crisis was averted.
Inside and outside the lounge, only Liu Jiu and Wuta remained standing.
Uta's smugness and pleasure froze completely, turning into utter shock and disbelief! She looked at the crowd that had fallen to the ground and been cleared away in an instant, then at the man who hadn't moved an inch from beginning to end, her lips trembling slightly.
"Conqueror's Haki?!" Her voice was filled with shock. "Like...like Shanks..."
She had only ever felt that level of domineering aura from that one man!
Liu Jiu slowly withdrew his overwhelming aura, and the suffocating pressure in the room vanished instantly. He still held Uta's wrist, his gaze calmly fixed on her pale face, pale with shock.