Chapter 157 Inner Darkness
The scrawny, withered body seemed to swell as if filled with air. No one knew how the original dead and rotting flesh managed to achieve such a state of full muscles, but the ghoul, having somehow obtained inexplicable energy, bizarrely accomplished this feat.
Beneath the dark, bloated skin were firm muscles representing vitality, which flexed and rippled with the body’s movements. Little Black’s previously hunched body also inexplicably grew by a segment, and the Death Aura wrapped around it became more restrained, making it appear more powerful, and even more… disgusting, compared to its previous ghoul form.
Can you imagine a humanoid creature with dark skin and a dirty appearance crawling on the ground, with disgusting liquid dripping from its mouth? Compared to the ghoul that was almost unrecognizable as human, this form, which bore a higher similarity to humans, made one’s scalp tingle even more…
Of course, Kazumi wouldn’t think that way. In the young girl’s eyes, the change in this ghoul she adored was that it had become more robust and spirited, looking full of energy.
Perhaps it was like her orange cat at home getting fat? Maybe the feeling of petting it would also improve significantly!
“Little Black! Come here, come here!”
Upon spotting the familiar figure, Kazumi immediately abandoned the ghoul by her side that was about to be named, and turned her gaze to the reborn Little Black in front of her.
Scratching her head in confusion, Little Black didn’t seem to understand what had happened, but it still followed its owner’s command. It slowly walked to the young girl’s side, found its familiar spot, leaned against her, and squatted down, extending its head with messy hair towards her hand.
“As expected of Little Black!”
Feeling the familiar touch from her hand, a sense of relief flashed through Kazumi’s heart.
The young girl had always been sentimental, not willing to casually discard things she had used for a long time in her previous life. Moreover, finding another pet that was so easy to pet was not that simple. Kazumi had tried petting the other憨憨 ghoul and the two cute little crows, but in the end, only the obedient Little Black felt the most comfortable.
After enjoying an afternoon of quiet petting time with her eyes narrowed, the young girl felt completely healed. The dishevelment from the previous events and the fatigue from thinking and dealing with others in the hospital room had completely vanished, leaving only a comfortable sense of leisure pervading her body.
However, Kazumi also knew that now was not the time for her to rest. It was fine to relax when she had a moment to spare, but if she were to truly slacken, the accident that happened in the training ground would be her lesson.
“Ah, I didn’t expect the release of abilities, which is a bit of an oversight. It seems I can’t fully trust my own consciousness. That academic pride is probably also a weakness.”
Muttering to herself, the young girl stood up and walked towards the desk, as it was inconvenient to think and record things while sitting on the bed.
She plopped down onto the chair. Just as she picked up a pen to write something, Kazumi seemed to suddenly remember something, picked up Little Black beside her, and checked it all over.
“Oh, I almost forgot! What I need to do now is to check you first. But what exactly was that pill? It even had an effect on you after eating it.”
Like a owner picking fleas off her dog, the young girl placed Little Black, who was half her size, in front of her and squatted down to carefully examine it.
In fact, the moment the young girl saw the envelope, she had already roughly guessed who had written the letter and what their true purpose was.
Connecting it with what she had experienced before, including the many bizarre attacks at school, combined with the deliberate betrayal targeting her loved ones, it was difficult for Kazumi not to think in that direction.
After all, not everyone had Kazumi’s near-complete loss of emotional cognitive ability, but even Kazumi had acted impulsively towards Sato Shinichi under the influence of the Black Mist.
As for other fifteen or sixteen-year-old brats, no matter how great their talent, they probably wouldn’t be able to compensate for their immature minds.
Coupled with that executive’s lifelike disguise technique, even Kazumi couldn’t distinguish whether that Sato Shinichi was real or fake at the time, and the other little brats would likely fall into the abyss of darkness amidst the betrayal of their closest loved ones.
Trust between people is indeed very fragile. Even the closest people, even if they forgive what the other person had done, that shattered glass can never return to its original state.
Earlier, Kazumi was still wondering if the other party’s goal was to strike down these excellent seedlings in the academy who could become future heroes, but she denied it after a little thought.
Because she was also within the scope of their attack, she had no abilities, or rather, from an outsider’s perspective, she should be just an ordinary first-year student. Why would they expend so many resources to deal with her? If they wanted to assassinate someone, they should kill students in the Hero Department. Even if the security measures there were stronger, killing or crippling some ordinary students would have no impact on the entire hero ecosystem.
But now Kazumi had seen it all clearly, the purpose behind their final invitation to bestow power. For those who had been brutally murdered and severely betrayed by their loved ones, perhaps the only thing they could believe in was their own strength. And compared to those students in the Hero Department, ordinary students who understood hero abilities but lacked their own would probably be their best choice.
“But what is their criterion? Grades? Athletic ability? Or personal character?”
Regarding this point, Kazumi pondered it over and over without figuring it out. The young girl had also obtained the list of attacked students from Sato Shinichi, and there was basically no connection. From the school’s perspective, it was a completely random and indiscriminate massacre.
Shaking her head somewhat neurotically, the young girl seemed to have thought of an interesting answer. She flipped over the lying Little Black and said to herself.
“It couldn’t be… inner darkness, could it?”
As she felt the somewhat dry but flesh-filled skin of Little Black, the young girl’s guesses seemed to grow like weeds in her heart.
As a dark organization hiding underground, possessing the ability to discern people’s inner inclinations doesn’t seem impossible.
The neutral expression on her face slowly changed, finally turning into a bizarre smile that even Kazumi had never seen before. She clapped her hands, signaling Little Black to stand up.
The young girl turned her head to look at the dark coffin behind her, which was taller than her by a head, and then at the terrifying creature crawling at her feet. The light from above shone on the young girl’s face, revealing a chilling pale white. The smile on her face inexplicably curved an arc, carrying an indescribable hint of madness.
“Darkness…”
