**Chapter 16: Non-existent, Heartless**
No… What am I thinking!
I can’t just believe her that easily! God knows if she’s really joking or not!
Midnight has already struck, she should have heard it too. That means it’s already April 2nd, April Fool’s Day is over… but she says it was an April Fool’s joke?
Maybe I’m overthinking things… But it’s also possible that her story is just to make me relax.
Isn’t there a saying? When people are stressed or fearful, they secrete hormones that make their meat turn sour and unappetizing, so she’s saying nice things to soothe my emotions, right?
No matter what, I can’t let my guard down. Life doesn’t have a second chance. Right now, I don’t have the luxury, I need to think carefully about every detail.
Let’s use my brain. I don’t use it much for studying, if I don’t use it now, I might never get to use it again… I still want to catch up on all the manga and novels I haven’t finished…
Well… assuming I can get out of here in one piece…
No, I’m not even asking for that. As long as I don’t lose any limbs, I’m mentally prepared to lose a few fingers.
Although my heart has calmed down, I still put on an uneasy expression and asked her repeatedly.
“You really won’t eat me? I can’t believe your word alone. You haven’t given me any substantial guarantee, how can I believe you won’t eat me?”
Kaoru Tsukiyose suddenly burst out laughing, clutching her stomach and kicking her legs. After laughing for a while, a comical expression appeared on her face as she teased me.
“Pfft, Hahahahahaha~ You~ You’re really a coward, aren’t you? Do you want me to write you a guarantee letter titled ‘Kaoru Tsukiyose Will Never Eat Juncheng An’?”
“That would be for the best.”
If possible, a signature and a thumbprint would be great.
Perhaps she didn’t expect me to answer her casual remark so seriously, Kaoru Tsukiyose looked at me strangely, blinked a few times, and finally let out a wry sigh.
“Even if you say so, I don’t have a pen and paper right now… Besides, even if I wrote you a guarantee, would you believe me?”
“…”
Kaoru Tsukiyose suddenly narrowed her eyes, a meaningful smile appeared at the corner of her mouth, and the lisp of ‘desu’ at the end of her sentences disappeared, revealing a cunning demeanor.
“Even if I wrote you a guarantee, you would probably say, ‘It’s just a piece of paper, it can be torn up anytime, it’s useless.’ If it goes on like this, I’ll probably have to tie myself up to ensure your safety… Hehe, are you trying to hold the initiative and trap me with words? You’re quite clever.”
Tch, so she saw through me…
As expected, I can’t fool her that easily.
Seeing that she has such a cheerful personality, I thought she was the airheaded type (idiot), but she’s surprisingly wise?
The mature feeling she sometimes showed earlier wasn’t an illusion. It seems she has lived a very long time. Although she looks like a primary school student about to enter middle school, her actual age might be older than my deceased grandfather.
Only after growing past a certain age and experiencing many things can accumulated knowledge settle and condense into wisdom.
That’s the feeling Kaoru Tsukiyose gives me now.
“Hehe, if it were me when I first arrived in the human world, I might have been played for a fool by you. But I’ve lived in this world for over five hundred years? I’ve thoroughly learned the cunning of you humans in all aspects…”
Kaoru Tsukiyose slowly opened her narrowed eyes. Her red pupils became even redder and slit vertically, sharp like a crescent moon hanging in the night sky.
And being stared at by those eyes, my body stiffened again!
Stiffer than before, as if I’d been isolated from this space, my body totally immobile, unable to even muster the will to resist.
Then, everything in my field of vision began to darken. The ticking of the clock tower’s second hand in the park center became inaudible. Although I was near the blood, I could no longer smell the blood. And I couldn’t feel Kaoru Tsukiyose lying on my leg, as if she had suddenly disappeared.
No… she didn’t disappear, my five senses were being stripped away!
“Do you understand now? I can not only eat your body… but also your ‘senses’… and play with you… in my palm…”
The voice was far, far away, barely audible at the end, and finally faded into silence.
My vision also faded. The last thing I saw was… that gray-red title!
Then, I was gone.
Perhaps physically, my body still existed, but to me who had lost contact with it, it was as good as gone.
I couldn’t hear, see, touch, smell, or taste.
The body devoid of the five senses no longer provided proof of existence to the spirit.
There was no longer any basis to prove that I still existed in this world, that I was still alive.
In endless darkness.
I felt nothing.
Was I really still alive?
Did I still exist?
In extreme anxiety, I began to doubt my life, my memories, myself, and everything, as if trapped in the ‘brain in a vat’ paradox…
My heart sank.
Into a spiral of confusion and bewilderment.
If I stop thinking…
Will I just disappear?
Realizing this, I was suddenly overcome by immense fear.
I used to think I could endure loneliness, that I could live even if I were alone, but if I lost even ‘myself’… would…
Would I still be me?
…
…
…
In the endless darkness, it was as if time itself had stopped.
There was no baseline to measure anything…
My self subsided…
Died…
Disappeared…
Never… existed…
“Here, take it back.”
That voice was like a miracle.
Breaking through the layers of darkness, it brought me back to reality.
“Crack! Haah… Haah… Gulp… Haahh!!!”
With the return of my five senses, my whole body jolted as if electrocuted.
Then, I immediately covered my face with my left hand, my eyes wide, gasping for air, and after swallowing hard, I continued to breathe in deeply. My right hand pressed hard against my chest to feel my heartbeat.
I was alive, I existed, I hadn’t disappeared.
Just this fact made me ecstatic.
Seeing me recover, Kaoru Tsukiyose didn’t show a cold demeanor, nor was she angry. With a mournful tone, she made a request.
“So, please don’t lie to me anymore, okay? The thing I hate the most is ‘deceit’… I’m willing to believe you, a human, so can you please believe me too? Your name wasn’t given to you for nothing, was it?”
That’s right! It was a request! Not an order, not even a discussion, but a request!
Despite possessing absolute power, capable of crushing me with ease, she didn’t force me. Instead, she adopted a humble posture to make a request…
My name is Juncheng An, and it wasn’t given to me for nothing! My grandfather gave it to me, a name to be proud of!
Once I understood, I nodded decisively to her. Since she was willing to believe me, I naturally wouldn’t let her down.
“I understand. I believe you. From now on, I won’t tell you a single lie.”
“Thank you…”
Kaoru Tsukiyose revealed a warm smile, and the title above her head turned blue.
She returned to her cheerful demeanor, propped herself up, sat on my lap, and leaned into my arms, saying casually.
“Also, I’m in ‘that class’ too, which is enough to show that I’m on the peace side.”
“That class…?”
So our Class 222 is special?
I asked her directly.
“Is there anything strange about our class?”
“Eh? You don’t know? It wasn’t explicitly stated, but I thought it was something everyone knew. People who aren’t familiar with each other don’t interact much, and everyone in the class has their own secrets, they just don’t interfere with each other’s affairs.”
As expected…
I had guessed before that perhaps the school deliberately gathered a group of abnormal individuals into one class. Now, judging from Kaoru Tsukiyose’s words, it seems to be true.
The principal… that is, Lily’s mother, right? Only she could arrange things like this without being criticized.
Lily said that the principal wants me to join some organization, and she’ll find time to discuss it with me in person…
I guess I’ll understand everything then.
“I’m quite obvious in class, many people have probably realized I’m a ghoul by now.”
“What? Are ghouls easy to identify?”
“Not really, it’s just that I often have to eat corpses for work, so I’m covered in corpse energy… Those with sensitive noses should have noticed by now.”
“Is that so…”
I remember Lianbing has a very keen sense of smell. Did she already know Kaoru Tsukiyose was a ghoul?
No, maybe she already knew the true identities of everyone in the class… After all, with Miss Shirley helping her gather information, she must have known a lot early on.
If I ask her, will she tell me?
“Now you know my secret too, and we have a relationship of mutual trust, so we’re friends now. So, what should I call you? Should I call you ‘Little Transparent-kun’ like Li Nai? That doesn’t seem quite right… Hmm…”
Kaoru Tsukiyose crossed her arms and pondered for a moment before suggesting.
“Juncheng-kun… It sounds strange to call you that, how about just calling you Cheng-kun?”
“Uh…”
I rubbed my forehead, my face covered in black lines. Somehow, when she brought up the issue of address, I had a feeling it would end up like this.
“Why does it have to be Cheng-kun… Can’t it be An-jun?”
“Hehe, look, calling someone by their surname sounds so distant, doesn’t it? We’ve had intimate contact as friends now, haven’t we?”
“…”
We did have intimate contact… so intimate that she even took away my five senses (rolling my eyes).
“Cheng-kun~ Cheng-kun~ Cheng-kun~”
Kaoru Tsukiyose kept calling my name, looking very happy.
Then, as if remembering something, she asked me.
“Oh right, Cheng-kun, are you injured? Your movements are a bit strange. The wound should be on your lower abdomen, to be precise, there’s a half-foot-long wound about two finger-widths below your navel.”
“Huh? How did you know!”
And she even knew the exact location and size of the wound!
“Why are you so surprised? I’m a ghoul, I know the human body structure like the back of my hand. When you hugged me, your abdominal muscles were twitching. Without even looking, I could tell you were injured. There’s a tear in the muscle, it must have been caused by a sharp blade. There are also some scratches elsewhere… They have some corpse energy on them, were you scratched by a zombie? No wonder you didn’t look too surprised when you saw me eating people, you’re already used to seeing monsters.”
Damn, that’s amazing! You could be a great detective. I think you should change your surname to Edogawa Kaoru.
“Hehe~ Since there’s an existing wound, let me have a taste~”
Kaoru Tsukiyose cackled mischievously, slid off my lap, turned to face me, and reached out, trying to lift my shirt.
“Hey, hey! Didn’t you say you wouldn’t eat me!”
“Just a taste~ Just a bite~”
“No!”
“Just a lick… No, just let me lick it, okay? Please? Pretty please~”
God knows I don’t believe you!
Your tone is exactly the same as Kéï Ling’s, who stole all the food I just cooked from the kitchen!
I quickly pressed her shoulders to push her away, but she was persistent, trying to pull down my pants… Hey, hey! Don’t pull down my pants! What do you mean by pulling down my pants!
As I tried to grab my pants, Kaoru Tsukiyose suddenly changed targets and launched a surprise attack on my upper body, trying to rip off my shirt in one go.
Damn it, I fell for it! It was a feint!
“Hehehe, Cheng-kun, you’re mine tonight~ Hiss…”
Kaoru Tsukiyose licked her lips, a lewd smile on her face as she tried to pull off my clothes, while I desperately resisted.
“Ah~ Help me~ Indecent assault~”
I won’t give in to you!
Wait, something’s not right about this situation now? Have our roles been reversed? How did it become a Loli attacking me?
If I’m the one being attacked right now, then a ‘hero’ should make a heroic entrance to rescue me, right?
As soon as this thought flashed through my mind, I heard a voice break the cold atmosphere around us.
“Let him go.”
Kaoru Tsukiyose and I fell silent simultaneously, shifting our gaze to the source of the voice.
“Let. Him. Go.”
The voice was bone-chillingly cold.
She stood there, holding a blood-stained sword, the blood that hadn’t yet coagulated dripping onto the ground.
Blood splattered on her face, but she didn’t wipe it, it adorned her delicate features like a work of art.
She was still expressionless, but the feeling she exuded was completely different.
Like a drawn sword, emanating an incredibly sharp aura.
She seemed to have just emerged from a Shura Field, exuding killing intent all over.
Her title emitted a blood-red light, a pure red without any impurities.
Carrying pure killing intent.
Jiang Xueqing arrived at the scene.
