Chapter 52: Strength and Resilience, Striving for Perfection.
Hearing Luo Jialan’s question, Sumu pretended to be nonchalant and avoided her gaze.
Did she really not know at all? That’s great.
This thought seemed a bit irresponsible… Wait, shouldn’t the one being responsible not be me? Then it’s fine.
“I saw your mother, that one called Luo Linglan. She looks a lot like the one called Ning Ling.”
“…It’s just that their temperaments are somewhat similar.”
Luo Jialan’s gaze focused on the busy Ning Ling, and after a while, she said faintly.
Being near that woman feels suffocatingly oppressive.
“No, I just did a scan. Guess what result I got.”
Sumu displayed “No. 6 Ning Xi” on the handheld game console to Luo Jialan, who was momentarily stunned.
“No. 6… what does that mean? No, I need to go ask.”
Luo Jialan was already aware that Ning Xi carried part of Luo Linglan’s core, but she didn’t expect that similar experimental subjects had already had contact with them.
However, no matter how she sensed, she couldn’t feel that familiar seductive aura from Ning Ling; instead, she felt an unusual calmness while gazing at her.
Even after hearing about the farce Tang Nai made, Luo Jialan didn’t think she would be the type to be all peace and tranquility. But at least now, she didn’t feel anything unusual.
“Don’t be hasty; isn’t it a bit too rude to question her suddenly…”
Sumu hesitated to speak, and upon hearing this, Luo Jialan turned her gaze toward her.
“I’ll ask sooner or later.”
“But we’re here to relax, and this will make the atmosphere a bit tense.”
Luo Jialan hesitated for a moment, then stopped in her tracks and sat beside Sumu.
“That’s true.”
She took a gentle bite of the grilled fish and secretly blamed herself.
Backing down again.
Time and again, when faced with matters involving Luo Linglan, she swung between confronting and temporarily avoiding it. Even when she briefly persuaded herself to be resolute, once a reasonable excuse presented itself, she would hesitate again.
Ultimately, she still didn’t want to see that woman.
Luo Jialan still remembered her last day with Luo Linglan.
Even though her heart was constantly suppressed by the rules set by Luo Linglan, she was just an ordinary person. Staying by the Desire Witch’s side for too long would unknowingly erode her with the dark magic that flowed from her.
Those factors that aroused desire struck a chord with Luo Jialan’s long-suppressed heart.
Her vision gradually filled with a hazy peach bloom; even in the winter without heating, her body felt unbearably hot, as if ignited, and no amount of punching the sandbags could release her inner restlessness.
Emptiness, dissatisfaction, she didn’t know why.
After she turned fifteen, similar situations started happening every now and then, each time coming quicker and fiercer.
When ignited by desire, Luo Linglan would quietly disappear, giving Luo Jialan a chance to vent on the sandbag with her simple drawing taped to it.
But as the intervals between occurrences shrank, this method seemed increasingly ineffective, often requiring at least half an hour of torment every night.
Luo Jialan didn’t want to seek help from Luo Linglan—she never confided her troubles to that woman. Even though Luo Linglan would habitually inquire about these matters daily, she only ever told her flatly that nothing was wrong.
That woman’s tone when inquiring lacked concern and felt rather indifferent, which annoyed Luo Jialan.
But now, relying solely on herself seemed impossible.
She had started to clearly feel the restlessness surge towards certain parts of her body, but she couldn’t understand the meaning behind this strange sensation—she was not only slightly behind her peers in development but also almost entirely ignorant in certain respects.
This was all thanks to Luo Linglan, who deliberately sealed off the channels through which Luo Jialan could acquire knowledge. Whether online or in real life, Luo Jialan had little opportunity to encounter such topics.
And such a girl was precisely the easiest to deceive into bed with just a few words.
“What’s wrong? Why…”
Even though “Luo Linglan” had been pounded to pieces, this surge of restlessness showed no signs of calming down.
Luo Jialan lay down on the ground, and although she forcefully suppressed the urge to undress, she still instinctively tightened her legs.
Her eyes sparkled with desire, as it slowly usurped her body, but at the same time, Luo Linglan’s rules continuously tortured her in her subconscious.
“Do not undress outside the bathroom, and do not put your hands under your clothes.”
These rules, firmly ingrained and practiced for over a decade, remained one of the fundamental guiding principles of her actions, even at the brink of losing consciousness.
However, after reading Sumu’s debut work, Luo Jialan had learned a fitting term to describe this experience.
—Strength and Resilience, Striving for Perfection.
To be honest, only someone who had truly experienced it could understand how torturous this was.
The martial arts hall was dim, appearing especially desolate under the cold moonlight, providing no solace to her state of mind.
After a moment, a tall figure blocked the icy blue moonlight, stepping over the scattered simple drawings and silently standing before Luo Jialan.
She could faintly hear her sighing softly.
“Let me handle this.”
Pure magic surged from her fingertips, transforming like the rules that Luo Jialan had long remembered, gradually binding the rampaging dark magic within her into chains.
In response, the unyielding frost on Luo Linglan’s cheeks was slowly disintegrating.
The heart shape in her eyes wouldn’t vanish; it would merely shift from one person to another.
“I don’t want you here, go away.”
Upon realizing who the woman beside her was, Luo Jialan immediately extended her hand, angrily pushing Luo Linglan away.
“Don’t rush; just endure a little longer.”
“Endure this, you bastard! Just get away from me!”
This time, even in front of Luo Linglan, Luo Jialan couldn’t help but curse.
What else was there to say at this point?
Why establish those nonsensical rules? Why restrain my desires…
“Ultimately, you’re just worried about your own issues being exposed, aren’t you?”
Luo Jialan wasn’t sure of the specifics, but she knew that the one living under the same roof with her, Luo Linglan, must be the source of all this.
Luo Linglan’s expression remained as calm as water, but her breath had already quickened, clearly uninterested in listening to Luo Jialan and solely focused on her task.
“I told you to leave, are you deaf?”
Luo Jialan gathered her strength, trying to push Luo Linglan away, but how could a mere human have the strength to move a witch?
Her inner desires were completely isolated and restrained by a chain shimmering with a blue light, Luo Jialan’s body softened, and she slumped back down to the ground.
Luo Linglan’s state now mirrored what Luo Jialan had just experienced, and it seemed even more intense.
Her already matured body had become an excellent vessel for desire, radiating an enchanting atmosphere that instantly dispelled the chill within the vast martial arts hall, but her hurried gaze revealed she was not planning to stay long.
After glancing at Luo Jialan one last time, Luo Linglan hurriedly left. Looking at her retreating figure, Luo Jialan found herself momentarily speechless.
At this moment of liberation, everything wasn’t as easy as she had imagined, and there was even a hint of melancholy.
But at least one thing Luo Jialan was sure of was that she would never return to the way things were before.
