Book 3, Chapter 96 - Choices

Love Code at the End of the World

Drawing her feet out of the water back onto the soft grass, Arsenal hugged her knees. She rested her chin on her knees as she continued, “And now, he can only see me clearly from a thousand miles away.”

I felt sad too. Arsenal was still hoping that Brother Qian Li could look at her and fix his gaze upon her when she was in front of him.

However, Brother Qian Li would only feel dizzy when he looked at things that were near him.

When the snow had been melting, Brother Qian Li had told us that Silver Moon City’s scouting robots had returned on time. In the end, they’d found nothing so they had left on the same day and never came back.

I reckoned Silver Moon City must have been very surprised. The entire Kro had been emptied after a single snowstorm.

We couldn’t do without Brother Qian Li. He was our Noah’s Eye.

However, if brother Qian Li didn’t leave his fortress, how could he be with Arsenal?

“Arsenal, let Raffles invent something that can take Brother Qian Li’s place in the sky,” I said.

Arsenal turned to me as I continued, “Since you want to be with Brother Qian Li, you can’t just go on like this with one of you always in the sky and the other on the ground, right?”

Arsenal blinked and turned to look far up into the sky. That person she liked was always flying in the sky.

“Now that we have enough simulated blue crystals, I believe that Raffles can invent something!” Raffles was so smart. He could even build a spaceship. This type of surveillance device should be an easy task for him.

Due to the lack of simulated blue crystals before, we hadn’t had enough energy resources to keep those things hovering in the sky. But now, we did.

Arsenal smiled. She turned around and nodded at me. “Mm! I miss Qian Li too. I hope he can stay by my side.”

We looked at each other and smiled. My hair that had grown longer fluttered in the night breeze.

Arsenal looked at me quietly for a while. She then smiled and asked, “If someone confesses to you, will you reject him?”

Stunned, I replied without thinking, “I think so. I don’t like anyone in particular.”

“But, how can you be sure that you won’t like him in the future?” Arsenal gazed at me with her beautiful eyes, so crystal clear that they looked like they could speak.

I was stunned again. I had never thought of that before.

Arsenal smiled and said, “I’ve always liked His Highness Xing Chuan. But I know that it is impossible. So, I will not wait for Xing Chuan to like me back. That’s why I chose Qian Li. But this doesn’t mean that I don’t like Qian Li. Nor did I make a choice recklessly and treat him as a substitute.”

“I know!” I said immediately. Romantic relationships are too complicated.

For instance, even after a couple had wedded, both of them might still have their first love hidden in their hearts. There’d been so many movies that showed complicated romantic relationships, like Lost in Hong Kong by Xu Zheng. But those movies always proved that both husband and wife were truly in love.

I still didn’t understand love. So, I had no right to comment on other people’s love stories.

“No, you don’t know yet.” Arsenal smiled and shook her head; she seemed so much more mature than me. She explained, “I have feelings for Qian Li. He is Noah’s Eye. He protects our Noah City. He also protects me.” Arsenal blinked her beautiful eyes and revealed a bashful expression. Blushing, she lowered her head. "I know clearly that I like him. I like how I feel when I am with him. That kind of feeling is very sweet and happy.”

The way Arsenal smiled so sweetly showed it all. If she didn’t truly like him, how could she have enjoyed the time she spent with him?

I didn’t understand love but I could tell that Arsenal was very happy when she was with Brother Qian Li. And the whole point of being together with someone was to be happy, wasn’t it?

“He likes me too. He is the best choice for me. I will be well taken care of when I’m with him. He is a very caring and loving guy, just like Raffles.” Arsenal suddenly switched the topic to Raffles. She looked up and smiled at me. “He’s become more manly lately and I seem to be attracted to him.”

“Ah?!” I looked at her in surprise. Arsenal laughed. “Haha. I am a princess. It is my right to choose who I want. I’m given the priority of choice.” She smiled maliciously at me.

“You already have Brother Qian Li.” I felt a little jealous. Everyone around me was getting into a relationship and it seemed like I was about to have no friends left.

Still smiling at me, Arsenal said, “But I can choose a few at the same time.”

I was left speechless for a moment.

Her gaze grew serious as she said, “Luo Bing, when a guy who you are familiar with, who you don’t hate but actually somewhat like, confesses to you, don’t push him away immediately. Because how can you be sure that the feelings you have towards him is not love?”

I brooded over what Arsenal said to me. What is the difference between like and love?

“It is very hard to differentiate between like and love. Most of the time, you will only realize that it is love when you lose it.” Arsenal looked up towards Silver Moon City. “Your heart will feel pain when you realize that you can never get it. That kind of pain made me understand that I didn’t just admire His Highness Xing Chuan but truly longed for him. Ming You only realized that she loved Harry because of the pain she felt.” Arsenal looked at me and I felt a little down thinking about the night when Ming You had cried. What kind of pain was it that had made her unable to talk from crying?

“She has let it go and she is preparing to choose someone else,” Arsenal said with a smile.

Surprised, I asked, “Who?”

Arsenal shook her head and replied, “She’s not sure for now. She needs some time to recover from the pain.”

I kept quiet.

“She is different from me. I know that I will never get His Highness Xing Chuan’s attention. Luckily, His Highness Xing Chuan is far away in the sky. The chances of me seeing him are very low so I don’t feel as hurt. But Ming You will always see Harry around. Ming You is very strong. If it were me, I wouldn’t be able to take it.” Arsenal felt sorry for Ming You.

That was true. In Noah City, running into one another was inevitable. Having to see someone you like and who had rejected you every day - I reckoned I wouldn’t have been able to take it either if it’d been me. However, Ming You had let it go and acted like nothing had happened. I would surely have tried to find excuses to head out for missions to avoid seeing him.

However, Ming You still behaved normally and naturally because she’d thought no one had seen them. She’d thought that besides Harry and her, no one knew what had happened that night.

“There are many times when I would tell myself that being with His Highness Xing Chuan may not be as happy as being with Qian Li.” Arsenal put her arms behind her as she looked up at Silver Moon City again. “His Highness Xing Chuan is so outstanding, steady and wise. There must be a lot of girls who like him.”

*Retch!* They are all blind!

I’m sorry, Arsenal. I know that you are not blind but you just pretended that you couldn’t see it. I guess Xing Chuan’s wickedness may be a kind of wisdom too.

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