Chapter 317: Danger Awareness (3)
"Pull a prank like that again, and you’ll be in trouble," Anastasia said.
It sounded like a threat — but Christian’s Danger Awareness skill didn’t send any signal.
And so, he couldn’t really feel afraid.
If anything, it just made her seem even cuter in that moment.
That’s why he smiled at her and said, "Really? Then what kind of trouble will I face?"
Christian looked straight at Anastasia as he asked, his tone light.
It seemed he had grown too brazen now — not even bothering to show some fear.
But instead of taking offense, Anastasia simply raised an eyebrow.
What’s his confidence based on?
She was sure a scaredy-cat like him had something up his sleeve — something quietly giving him that boldness.
And her curiosity about him only deepened.
In the end, she just shook her head and said,
"Forget it. Just finish them, and let’s go back to continue making my Android."
That was her intention.
But Christian, who now stood closer to her than ever before...
Suddenly grew bold.
Her smooth, long silver hair seemed to call for him. And he answered that call.
He ignored the people still around — the ones frozen in place, knowing their fates had already been sealed — and extended his hand toward her head, intending to bat it lightly and ruffle her silky hair.
It was a moment born from pure impulse, done without any thought.
And had he stopped to think...
Then maybe... just maybe, he would have realized that no one with that kind of strength would allow an ant to touch them.
They could observe ants with curiosity — even play with them.
But that didn’t mean they were on the same level.
That was the reality.
And Christian, who suddenly felt as if the entire world around him had turned red... as his Danger Awareness skill began to scream — sending signals unlike anything it had ever warned him of before.
It was in that instant, where it felt like time itself had stopped, that he finally understood: He had overstepped his limits.
No — time hadn’t stopped.
It was his senses that had changed.
Due to the immense power he had just tapped into, his perception of time had changed.
What others might see as a blink... he now saw in excruciating detail.
[Danger Awareness (Passive/Active) Lv.-]
[Passive: Sense any kind of threat that could pose danger to you.]
[Active: In moments of extreme danger, you will enter a special state, and be able to unleash power far beyond your normal limits.]
Christian still remembered the explanation of the skill from when he first received it.
But it was only now that he truly understood what "far beyond your normal limits" meant.
At this moment, everything around him felt fragile.
The ground. The space. And even the Earth itself.
He felt as if — were he to punch the ground now — it might actually shatter.
As if the Earth could be destroyed by a single blow.
And Christian was certain...
That Anastasia was far, far stronger than even this.
Then —just how strong was she, really?
In this seemingly frozen time, Christian looked at Anastasia.
And Anastasia looked right back at him.
Her eyes widened.
She could see it all — every sudden change inside his body, and the strength that surged through him.
She could feel how he now held a power far beyond what someone like him should have ever possessed.
And for the first time — she was astonished.
She had always known there was something special about him.
From the moment her eyes first landed on him, she sensed it — those strange, unexplainable changes, happening in his body.
But none of that compared to this moment.
Because now, she could feel how his strength had risen to a level infinitely close to the force she was about to strike him with.
And she grew curious.
What if she were to strike with even more force?
Would he grow stronger again?
The thought intrigued her.
Even though she knew full well—
That even this level of force was pushing the limits.
Any further, and the planet itself wouldn’t survive.
It would literally evaporate.
Christian watched the changes in her expression—
From amusement,
To curiosity,
To intrigue...
Then... joy?
A flicker of doubt crossed his mind.
He wanted to ask her,
’Why do you look so happy... when my life is a strand of hair away from being snuffed out?’
But he didn’t ask.
Instead, his thoughts drifted again toward the question that always returned when he stood beside Anastasia whose power was too vast for him to grasp.
What is her motive?
What does she really want from me?
Does she have bad intentions...?
Inside this warped stretch of time — where seconds dragged like hours — those questions rose again.
And this time, they refused to fade.
Christian didn’t run, this time though.
He decided, right then, to answer the questions himself.
Does every action need a motive behind it?
Does she have to want something from me for this all to make sense?
And if she truly meant harm, wouldn’t she have done it already...?
Questions bled into more questions. But in the end, he made a choice.
Instead of doubting her because of her strength...
Instead of fearing her because of his own weakness...
He trusted.
He trusted her cheerful grin, her unpredictable energy, the strange warmth in her words. He trusted the way she looked at him. He trusted the time they had spent — short as it was.
And so, though he could still feel the invisible force hovering near, though his Danger Awareness screamed at him with a signal sharper than ever before...
He didn’t move.
He didn’t block.
He didn’t resist.
He didn’t even blink.
He chose not to listen to the voice of survival.
He chose to trust his gut.
Would Anastasia really kill him?
She wouldn’t. He was confident of that.
So instead of obeying the skill that warned of death, Christian followed his instinct — and gently continued moving his hand toward her hair.