Chapter 77: As Ever
“By the way, Lan, how did you prove your existence? Did you also find Shirley and use her paradox ability?”
“Huh? I didn’t prove my existence at all?”
Lan’s innocent reply furrowed my brow. Huh?
Didn’t prove your existence?
“Then how did you appear before me? According to you, no one could find your existence, right? After all, your existence was erased, leaving no trace.”
“No, now only Juncheng can see me.”
“What? Only I can see you? Don’t tell me… there’s something wrong with me?”
“Bingo~ Exactly. It’s you, Juncheng, who has gained the ability to ‘observe’ things that shouldn’t exist. And it’s not just me. You should be able to see other… well, those things that have been denied by the world too, right?”
Hearing Lan’s words, I realized that there were indeed some strange things around me. They floated around like three-dimensional shadows, their eyes hollow white, their bodies distorted and inhuman, very similar to Mr. Shadow. But those guys weren’t shadows. Mr. Shadow could only appear in lit places, but these guys floated in the darkness, murkier than darkness itself. If shadows were ‘traces of an entity’s existence’, then these guys were nothing at all, not even a trace of existence. They weren’t ghosts, nor specters. ‘Nothingness’? Why can I understand these things? Uh, yeah, how did I suddenly understand what they were…
“Hehehe, Juncheng, are you wondering why you can suddenly see and understand these things? It’s precisely because you can understand them that you can see these existences,” a mysterious voice said.
“Is that Qiye?”
“Indeed. That guy’s crazy ability can still be of some use.”
“Lan, what’s your relationship with Qiye?”
I didn’t really have any special thoughts when I asked this. If I didn’t even have this level of trust in Lan, then I’d really lived in vain. But Lan playfully drew circles on my chest with her finger and said in a teasing tone, “Oh my~ Are you perhaps jealous, Juncheng? Hehehe, I won’t like anyone other than Juncheng.”
Alright, let’s just say I was jealous. Don’t play coy, just tell me.
“I’m just borrowing his ability. In return, you gave him the horn in your hand.”
“You just gave it to him? Then you don’t have any leverage over him anymore…”
“It’s okay, we’ll talk about that later. There’s no rush now.”
Lan seemed to know many things. Her ability to grasp information was still as excellent as ever. Speaking of which, if it wasn’t Lan suddenly appearing before me, but rather that I had gained the ability to see Lan, then during this whole time…
I guess some of you have already guessed it without me needing to say it…
“Lan, you haven’t been… by my side the whole time, have you?”
Lan’s cheeks suddenly flushed red, and she said excitedly, “That’s right! Compared to watching video footage, the feeling of actually being by your side is simply unbeatable! It’s a more realistic experience than VR, and even if I did anything to you, you wouldn’t notice! It’s simply the perfect stalking form! I want to stay in this state forever, hehehehe…”
…Her perverted laughter, Lan, you really don’t hide your twisted hobbies at all. As expected, Lan had been following me the whole time, undetectable by anyone and leaving no trace. This stealth-like state was indeed most suited to Lan’s true nature and calling, which was… a stalker. I shouldn’t ask what she did to me during this time, or I might cry upon knowing the truth. She had been watching me, knowing everything about me, perhaps even my thoughts. Come to think of it, was that also Lan…? Thinking of this, I directly asked, “And Lan, did you make that phone call?”
That mysterious voice that told me I could achieve any wish by gathering nine destinies. I suspected it was Lan.
This time, Lan admitted it directly and asked me unbelievably, “Huh? Juncheng, how did you guess? I should have disguised my voice, and I was careful not to reveal any tics or habits.”
“I just suddenly figured it out. By using the process of elimination, you were the only one who could have called me.”
At the point when I hadn’t re-established a destiny connection with any Witch of Calamity, besides myself, the only one who knew of Lan’s existence… was Lan herself.
“Hehe~ As expected of Juncheng~ Here’s a kiss as a reward~”
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“You really… you knew that if you said that, I would definitely find a way to gather the nine destinies, so you deliberately told me.”
So, the instigator of this series of chaotic missions was Lan herself. I was worried about you so much…
“Lan, why didn’t you transform like them?”
“Juncheng, you don’t mean you want me to become like these… *sniffle*… I never expected your tastes to become so unique. You don’t like beautiful girls anymore and have started liking black ooze monsters?”
“Please stop messing around.”
“Woof!”
“Mmm, good girl.”
I patted Lan’s head. If Lan had ears and a tail, they would definitely be wagging excitedly now.
“Answer my question properly, Lan. Are you and those dark things over there the same kind of existence… I can feel it.”
“Mmm, yes. I just ‘haven’t’ become like that yet. If time passes, I’ll likely become like that too.”
“As expected… another time-limited mission…” I’ve been taking on a lot of these urgent, time-limited missions lately.
“And what about Nana? Was her existence erased like theirs? Oh right, where is Nana? She just disappeared in front of me.”
“Because she doesn’t have the memories of the previous world, but she realized the ending of the previous world. So, for the sake of logical consistency, her existence itself was erased.”
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“Then I should be able to see her now, right? Where did she go?”
“Mmm, Nana didn’t come. Now we are all invisible. So there are no obstacles wherever we want to go. She said she wanted to investigate the highest secret of the organization.”
“I see…”
Phew, thankfully. It seems Nana didn’t just suddenly disappear at that time, but rather that, including me, we suddenly couldn’t see her anymore. She must have been very confused and lost at that moment. We were talking fine one moment, and the next, everyone around her started ignoring her. This is what it’s like when your existence is erased. Fortunately, Lan was likely present at the time and explained all of this to her.
What Nana wanted to tell me at that time should have been what Lan just told me. The organization’s original plan was for me to abandon Lianbing and the others and become an omnipotent wish-granter to save all of humanity. Yes, the organization’s purpose is equilibrium. This was just a choice they had to make. They couldn’t save everyone, so they chose to maintain balance…
“But don’t worry, Juncheng. Your harem? Not one of them will escape~”
“That’s not what I meant…”
“Alright, alright. Speaking of which, some interesting things have been happening around you lately, Juncheng? Amplifying the latent emotions within people, hehehe… Even if they are amplified, as long as there is love, they can suppress them. Their training is still insufficient~”
Lan narrowed her eyes and chuckled twice, like a great villain declaring, “Hehehe. Honestly, they are still too young in this world… Let me, their ‘senior,’ teach them properly~”
Lan is still Lan, as ever… in every sense of the word.
