Chapter 160 Chapter 161 Strange
Jina’s smile was still so gentle, just like in Ji Ma’s memory, but Ji Ma felt a cold sweat running down her back, and her heart raced. She instinctively closed her notebook and placed it back on the table.
At this moment, she couldn’t show any signs of abnormalities to avoid provoking the nearly uncontrollable Jina.
So Ji Ma pretended as if nothing had happened and smiled at Jina, saying, “Sister Jina, you are so knowledgeable, truly hardworking, wise, and talented.”
“Just average.”
Ji Ma circumvented Jina, and a pair of large snow peaks immediately blocked her way.
“Sister Jina, I need to use the restroom urgently.”
“There is a private bathroom here.”
“But my stomach hasn’t been well lately, I have diarrhea and gas, and it smells terrible,” Ji Ma said. “I should go outside.”
Jina hesitated for a moment and then stepped aside to make way.
Ji Ma felt relieved; Jina was still capable of communication and had a degree of rationality. The situation wasn’t that bad. After all, if it were really bad, she would have seen it at their first meeting.
She walked towards the door, and after a few steps, Jina didn’t stop her. Ji Ma couldn’t help but exhale in relief, taking deep breaths to ease the fear she had just experienced.
A familiar person suddenly became unfamiliar, which brought a chill to her heart.
As Ji Ma reached for the doorknob, the brightness of the door increased suddenly, and the sound of flipping pages came from behind her, along with Jina’s voice:
“Did you look at my notes? Just in time, I’ve found a good method for treatment. Let’s start the treatment now.”
Ji Ma’s hand trembled as she pushed open the door, saying, “No need, no need, my condition is fine for a short while.”
Just as her right foot crossed the threshold, a dazzling light web covered her, and a great force pulled her back down beside Jina.
Jina’s smile grew wider and more terrifying, and the notebook fell at her feet, open to a page filled with the words “Cannot be saved, I’m sorry.”
“I will cure you, I will cure you, the wound will heal, it will be alright.”
Before the words finished, a cloud of smoke erupted from the light web, and when the smoke cleared, there was only a poorly made puppet lying in the light web.
A scream came from outside:
“Everyone, run! Jina has lost control!”
Jina’s smiling face remained unchanged as she floated outside, looking toward the right side where Ji Ma’s cries had come from.
“Don’t run, I swear to the gods I won’t harm you,” Jina swooped quickly to the right. “I will treat you well.”
Her figure disappeared around the corner, and a moment later, a shrill scream echoed from that direction.
Ji Ma’s figure appeared against the wall of the corridor; she patted her flat chest.
That scared me! Fortunately, I was clever enough to become invisible after calling out. Otherwise, Jina would have caught me for treatment.
Even though Jina is beautifully captivating, I still feel a bit anxious; protecting my life is a priority. At such a time, a budding interest could jeopardize my health.
Ji Ma swiftly darted into Jina’s room.
As the saying goes, the most dangerous place is often the safest. Besides, she couldn’t just run away and leave Jina uncontrolled—what if this was some kind of conspiracy?
Upon entering Jina’s room, Ji Ma had the good habit of closing the door behind her, and she did so while simultaneously pushing the cabinet against the door to block it.
A good habit, but also tiring.
In the Holy Maiden’s chamber, Ji Ma had no inclination for anything else; she began rummaging through drawers and searching for clues.
According to experience, in situations like Jina’s, temporarily restoring her rationality and removing whatever stimulated her uncontrollable state would yield quicker results.
But what could stimulate her?
Ji Ma skillfully accessed her personal system and opened a document titled “Operation to Defile the Pure Holy Maiden,” which contained all useful information about Holy Maiden Jina.
“I see the strategy progress has increased by ten percent! Holy Maiden Jina told me today that she was too beautiful as a child, and a little sycophant followed her everywhere. To catch her attention, he blew his face off during alchemy class, leaving Jina with a serious psychological scar.”
“I suspect this is the root cause of Jina’s poor cooking skills; she fears all things related to cooking and alchemy classes. Damn! This pan-fried venison is both salty and bitter; no wonder she hasn’t been in bed with the Hero all these years.”
Injured face…
Ji Ma’s mind conjured the unpleasant face of Is; this guy always wore a golden mask, claiming he would never take it off. He went around saying that unless he met his destined person, he would never remove the mask.
I thought he was just being overly dramatic, wearing a mask every day was the height of shame. Now it seems that Prince Is was just trailing behind little Jina? Right, I remember his father pleaded with her not to throw Prince Is off the railing like she did when they were children.
Ji Ma vaguely had a guess and quickly flipped through the text to find the record of when Jina first lost control.
“This big saint Jina insisted on staying on the city wall to burn orcs and almost got me killed… She was unstable, always blaming herself for not saving more people. I told her that the good camp people are just overly sentimental; it doesn’t concern me whether others live or die. She really lacks awareness and deserves a good beating.”
“Damn, she really lost control; it must be because the green dragon targeted her weakness. The good camp people really are dogs tamed by the whip of morality. Fortunately, this king is powerful and has an early plan; I had anticipated the green dragon’s predictions.”
“Conclusion: Jina has a strong sense of guilt, and she is especially prone to moral coercion. This trait can be useful for future manipulation.”
Strong sense of guilt…
Ji Ma’s mind repeated this phrase as she continued browsing.
“Jina said there were matters at home; she must return even though she is still undergoing psychological treatment at the Holy Hall (after all, it’s just a bunch of priests mumbling in a similar way; that’s how believers are). The Holy Hall approved it because her mental state was good, and there would be no issues at home, which would aid in her recovery.”
“Today, that flamboyant Prince Is gave her a necklace of ultimate goodness, proving he is a scumbag who likes married women…”
Ji Ma’s mind suddenly lit up as she connected the dots.
Prince Is might just be the sycophant from Jina’s childhood; after he blew up his face and became disfigured, he started wearing a mask. Because of this, Jina has harbored guilt towards him all along.
She has always been someone easily manipulated by moral standards. She had lost control once during the Green Dragon battle, and when recovering, she happened to meet Prince Is at home. Coincidentally, he gave her that necklace, which has the side effect of ‘the less kind, the more likely one is to lose control.’
One can imagine how out of control Jina would become wearing the necklace while facing the scar on Is’s face. The biggest trigger would be the scar on his face.
That bad person, Prince Is, must have schemed to use her guilt to force Jina to submit and make her pregnant.
Damn! The minimum punishment is a good beating, and the maximum is to scatter his ashes in the sea. No, for such an evil person, not only should his ashes be scattered, but also a group of cheerleaders should be hired to cheer while scattering his ashes.
Ji Ma envisioned the wonderful scene of scattering ashes, and her nervousness faded significantly.
Her thoughts formed; the stimulants would be the things that made Jina feel guilty. Anything that made her feel ‘I can’t save you, I’m at fault, I’m sorry’ must be confiscated.
Thinking of this, Ji Ma reluctantly stuffed Jina’s undergarment back to its original place.
First, she searched the vanity, hoping Jina didn’t hide personal items in some hidden chamber, basement, or magical safe due to privacy concerns while being spied on by her father.
She wasn’t like Akarnis, the thief who’d say, “Your home is my home; I can unlock doors faster than you can with a key.”
“Perfume? Jina actually uses perfume; I thought she had a natural scent. It smells nice.”
“This lipstick shade is pretty good.” Ji Ma suddenly tossed the lipstick aside. “Ji Ma, focus.”
The outside was eerily silent; no one knew whether the people outside had been killed or if she looked out and saw dozens of charred corpses lying in the corridor. Or perhaps Jina, with a perverted smile, was hovering at the door, her ear pressed against it.
No luck on the vanity.
The notes on the floor were confiscated.
At the workbench, Ji Ma gathered several books that looked related to treatment. Even though she didn’t know if they’d be effective, just opening them filled her with the same discomfort as staring directly at calculus.
Nothing in the nightstand.
Ji Ma quickly searched everything, feeling that she had confiscated too little. She patted the bed and found a drawer under it, not hidden all that well. As she yanked it open, a fragrant scent wafted out, similar to Jina’s scent.
In the drawer lay yellowed books, a hairband, and several letters, along with a wooden sword, a top, and a few beautiful pebbles.
Ji Ma glanced through the books; they were written in a childish hand, Jina’s childhood diary. She took a quick look; it was filled with the fantasies of a little girl:
“They all say I have been chosen by the gods, born extraordinary, destined to be the dark enemy. So who is the hero destined for me? He must be very handsome; would he take a liking to me…”
Ji Ma closed the diary firmly and shoved it back in, her hands fiddling with the pebbles, discovering they were all inscribed with “George Hammer,” the handwriting neat, suggesting they were gifts from George.
She reached for a small stack of envelopes; they were letters from George, labeled “To my dear Jina.”
Curiosity clawed at her like a wildcat.
But now didn’t seem to be the time to read letters; besides, what George wrote was none of her business.
She was the one planning to make George wear a big green hat.
Suddenly, “Bang!” The door exploded open, the cabinet shook.
Jina’s gentle voice drifted into the room.
“Ji Ma, don’t conceal your illness; come out quickly. I know you’re in there, it won’t hurt much.”
That came too fast!
Ji Ma put the letters back and continued searching the drawer, finding a notebook titled “Patient Observation Records—Ji Ma.”
Jina truly cares about me.
Ji Ma confiscated it.
Outside, Jina’s soft voice echoed, “Little lamb, be good; Mommy is back.”
Ji Ma ran to the back window, picked up a chair, and smashed a hole in it, shouting, “If you don’t open it, Mommy doesn’t have claws as dark as yours.”
The noise behind the door stopped; perhaps the rampaging Jina hadn’t expected Ji Ma to respond.
Ji Ma discarded the chair through the broken window and rolled directly onto the ground, slipping under the bed.
With a thunderous sound, Ji Ma saw a smoking door panel fall near the bed, with a clearly visible pattern, and embedded with a seemingly light-forged axe.
Ji Ma held her breath, lying on her side on the floor, looking outside, using her chameleon ability to make her body transparent and invisible.
A burst of bright light rushed by her bedside, like a ball of light floating toward the direction of the broken window.
Ji Ma’s racing heartbeat gradually calmed; it appeared even if Jina had lost control, she was still just as foolish, having been fooled by the same trick twice in a row.
The next steps were simple; she just had to wait for Jina to recover, though it might take some time. However, Ji Ma wouldn’t mind spending a few hours napping in Jina’s chamber.
The sound of fabric rustling came suddenly, and Jina’s face appeared beneath the bed, a wide grin plastered on her face, devoid of any previous warmth, looking so alien she seemed like a monster, no more than thirty centimeters away from Ji Ma.
“Ji Ma, are you there?”
Not here!
Ji Ma nearly yelled out, her heart racing once more.
