Chapter 149 Chapter 150 The Night Before the Competition
Not long after, Lianxi returned to the yard. As soon as she crossed the threshold, Jima waved at her and asked what had happened after she left.
Lianxi took off her straw hat, her pair of fluffy cat ears perked up happily:
“It was amazing; the lamb accused three or four men in the village.”
“Ten?”
“Yes, one of them was the clothes thief from that day.” Lianxi said, “He really is a pervert; he was beaten and kicked by his parents on the spot. Unfortunately, the effect of the drug wore off quickly, and he managed to call only three men and one woman.”
“So, I did a great good deed.” Jima said, “Although the lamb didn’t survive, it was able to get justice.”
“Master, the lamb is not dead,” Lianxi said, “It seems very happy, and its appetite is getting better. The village chief thinks that the lamb’s owner will look for opportunities to breed the sheep in the future to ruin the village’s reputation, so he confiscated his sheep.”
“From a certain perspective, I did heal the sheep.”
But this result might not be what the sheep owner liked.
After inquiring, Jima returned to her bedroom, closed the door, and sat back in her recliner.
Opening her personal system, she found a new line of text in the information bar: “You have made a small step forward in your mastery of witch powers.”
Jima’s fingers traced her tail. Based on the current information, she pondered the upgrade requirements.
“I promised someone’s request and used extraordinary abilities in the process. After I used the ‘Deceiver’ ability to set up a trap for the sheep’s owner, the progress information popped up. It shows I brushed the edge of the upgrade requirement.”
“It might be related to my use of the witch’s divination and potion-making abilities. The cause of this incident was that the lamb happened to drink the charm potion I discarded.”
“Later, when I confirmed the lamb survived, there was another progress message. After fulfilling someone’s request, I also brushed the edge of the upgrade requirement.”
Jima felt that she had vaguely grasped the upgrade requirements.
She proposed her first hypothesis:
“Someone requests me, and I use witch abilities to fulfill their request.”
It felt inaccurate.
If the sheep’s owner knew that Jima was fulfilling his request in this way, he would probably pick up a rock and smash his own lamb to death, ruining his own mouth.
Jima proposed her second hypothesis:
“Someone makes a request, and I use witch abilities to distort the fulfillment of their request.”
Boldly hypothesize, cautiously verify. She could experiment with Lianxi to see the feedback from the personal information system.
Once again, Jima felt that having a backup was good.
It is said that the requirements for professional upgrades vary among individuals, so many experiences from predecessors cannot be referenced. What’s more challenging is that while exploring by oneself, it is hard to grasp the key points for upgrades, making it easy to go off course.
And the personal information system can provide correct feedback at any time, which gives a significant advantage compared to other extraordinary beings.
Thank goodness I have the system; otherwise, as an ordinary person, what ability do I have to survive well in this world?
Jima thought of George, who was a genius, determined, and hardworking, and a wave of jealousy surged in her heart.
Without the system, I simply don’t have the hard power to compete with him. If he were not constrained by moral shackles with his hands and mind, I wouldn’t be able to deceive him with my intelligence.
How pathetic.
“Never mind, don’t think so much. Regardless of the process, the one who laughs last is the winner.” Jima clenched her fists to encourage herself, “I will have a harem, and my enemies will die.”
Jima stood up, reached out to touch the silver ring George gave her on her upper left arm, lightly murmured a spell, and her horns, wings, and tail disappeared. She opened her bedroom door and called out:
“小莉!”
In less than three seconds, a rush of footsteps approached:
“Master, what is it?”
“Make a request of me.” Jima said, “What do you want me to do?”
Lianxi became flustered and said, “Master… I am your maid; you treat me so well, and you have done me great deeds…”
“No, I’m not treating you well; this is an order.” Jima interrupted, “I want to conduct an experiment; make a request to me.”
“Okay.” Lianxi looked at Jima as if gazing at the brightest star in the night sky, “Master, can you hug me and touch my ears?”
“Sure.”
Jima embraced Lianxi, who was wearing a black and white maid outfit, and rubbed her red cat ears with her hand.
Lianxi closed her eyes, her cheeks reddening.
The feeling of hugging a cat-eared girl…
“You bumped me with your ribs.” Jima said while rubbing the cat ears, “You’re too thin.” I really dislike girls who are both short and skinny.
After saying that, she pushed Lianxi away without any affection.
“Alright, Master.” Lianxi’s cat ears drooped as she lowered her head, “I’ll eat more to gain some weight in the future.”
“And you need to exercise more; lift some dumbbells, or else you’ll just have a pile of sagging fat.” Jima casually remarked, opening her personal system to take a glance at the information bar.
Indeed!
There was no reminder.
Jima then ordered Lianxi to make another request, one that she really wanted, a request so challenging that it required divination to fulfill.
Lianxi requested, “I want to see my mother.”
Jima pulled out a few of her hairs, causing Lianxi to grimace in pain.
Using surface divination again, Jima didn’t directly divine Lianxi’s mother but chose to look at her past to see if there was any trickery with Lianxi.
The water’s surface, floating with several red cat hairs, revealed images from Lianxi’s past in Jima’s eyes.
Ever since Lianxi was born, because she didn’t have human ears and her head sported dry cat ears, her biological father picked her up and walked her to the river to drown her.
If it weren’t for her mother, who had just given birth, desperately grabbing onto him, Lianxi would have already become one of the countless dead babies drifting in the river.
After a human pregnant woman has been corrupted, the fetus is easily affected, becoming a “mongrel.” The empire has a decree that if a beast is born, it must be drowned or burned to prevent it from harming humans when it grows up.
Lianxi was lucky; her deformity was minimal; she only had cat ears and looked more human, thus slipping through the decree. However, many associated the village’s misfortune with her, hoping for her early demise, including her father.
She had five siblings and was the second in line but could only eat the leftovers of her siblings. Behind her mother’s back, she hid some food, secretly bringing it to Lianxi to eat, but after her father discovered it, Lianxi could eat even less.
But Lianxi was very resilient.
She taught herself how to find berries in the bushes and how to pick leftover wheat in the fields. Sometimes when she was hungry for three days, she could catch and roast a rat to eat.
After several winters passed, three of her siblings died, but she, although starved to the bone, lived on stubbornly.
Until her mother died during the difficult birth of her eighth child.
Her father took the hungry Lianxi to the forest, gave her a piece of bread and a jug of water, and told her to wait in the forest.
Lianxi waited until nightfall and never saw her father again. After that, she followed the main road, luckily avoiding robbers and beastmen attacks, and went to Marlin City to make a living, where she met Jima.
Eventually, the image on the water’s surface froze at a grave overgrown with weeds.
Jima pondered for a moment and said, “Your mother is dead; I see your mother’s grave.”
Lianxi’s eyelashes drooped as she said, “When my father took me into the forest, a donkey cart was dragging my mother to find a doctor… I… I thought…”
This was good, having no ties, suitable for being a maid.
Jima was finally relieved and determined that Lianxi was a good maid with a proper background.
She had always vaguely suspected Lianxi was arranged to meet her by someone.
Because she had too many coincidences and was just corrupted enough, not becoming a beastman or an ugly mongrel, like a fish-head person or a cat-faced person, nor a bull-headed person. Just perfectly sporting a pair of cat ears that Jima loved.
Jima glanced at her personal system, and sure enough, there was no reaction. She patted Lianxi on the shoulder and sighed:
“Sigh.”
Lianxi thought Jima was sympathizing with her and leaned on Jima’s bony shoulder, quietly crying.
Her tragic childhood stirred not even a ripple in Jima’s heart. The more miserable Lianxi’s childhood was, the more reassured Jima felt, as it represented her greater loyalty.
“I’ll roast two chickens tonight for you to eat,” Jima said, “I was hungry when I was little, and I have to make up for it now that I’m grown.”
“Thank you, Master.”
Too much suffering; it’s not worth crying for too long. Lianxi wiped her tears, turned, and continued with her work.
Jima closed the bedroom door and regretfully crossed out the first hypothesis in her personal information system.
As for how to verify the second hypothesis, Jima thought of Enlaike.
Isn’t this a coincidence?
Jima slapped her thigh covered in black silk.
When it comes to fulfilling a request in a twisted way, what could be more twisted than “Dressing as a woman to participate in a beauty contest and winning first place”?
I must use witch abilities to help Enlaike win the beauty contest.
Jima’s gaze turned to the flask containing a light pink charm potion, and the corners of her mouth curled up.
