I tried to use the power of The Little Mermaid again, but unfortunately, it didn’t work. Although I could feel a slight resonance, something seemed to be missing. Perhaps I was woken up halfway and couldn’t finish the dream.
Moreover, I had previously experienced Older Brother Jayad being captured by someone and had rushed to save him regardless of the consequences. Therefore, in terms of mindset, I could better resonate with Gerda, the protagonist of The Snow Queen.
“Right, what time is it?” I asked. I still had to go to the Undead Trade Fair with Sherris. I couldn’t let my own childish thoughts delay Lorna’s treatment.
“It’s almost eleven o’clock. We woke you up precisely because it’s time to leave,” Older Brother Jayad said. However, he hadn’t slept well; he was woken up by the cold earlier, and his bed was later soaked with water.
“Then I’ll get ready to leave,” I said, standing up. But immediately, a strong reluctance and worry arose in my heart. I didn’t want to leave Older Brother Jayad’s side at all, not even wanting my gaze to leave him for a moment.
A sense of alarm washed over me. This was a manifestation of madness, an intense desire for dependence and possessiveness stemming from within, amplified infinitely. Although it didn’t seem to have a significant impact, if it developed further, it could lead to many more insane actions, such as becoming yandere to exclusively possess Older Brother Jayad.
I raised my head, and a shattered piece of mirror fell into my eyes. Instantly, my heart turned ice-cold and devoid of emotion, and my obsession with Older Brother Jayad faded.
The Mirror Shard. This was an ability I had comprehended from the fairy tale The Snow Queen. It was the incident that befell the original male protagonist, Kai. The shards of the magic mirror could erase a person’s emotions.
In my own evaluation, it felt inferior to an external brain. This emotion-erasure even removed my desires and certain thoughts, such as my desire to help Lorna out of sympathy.
Compared to an external brain, which could maintain rationality and high-speed calculation, the Mirror Shard was far inferior. Its advantage was perhaps that it had no side effects and didn’t consume energy. It felt more suitable for use on enemies.
“Older Brother Jayad, I’ll be back soon. You rest here comfortably,” I said with a hint of apology, having now released myself from the mirror’s influence. Because of me, the bed was soaked with seawater, and Older Brother Jayad had to sleep in a different room.
The brief cold indifference was enough to help me escape my previously anxious state. However, this ability couldn’t be used too often. The emotions fluctuated too much, and overuse could easily lead to schizophrenia.
“Walk safely. Um, give Parul some encouragement,” Older Brother Jayad said, leaning over and gently kissing me on the forehead.
“Eek! Th-thank you, Brother! You rest well, I’m leaving now!” I said, blushing and hastily fleeing the room, more embarrassed than when we were being intimate.
Older Brother Jayad smiled from behind. He must have felt that he should console me after my earlier behavior.
I escaped the room, and Via and Sherris had already changed out of their maid outfits and were ready to go out. Night was their prime time. “Let’s go.”
“I knew Miss Parul wouldn’t be so easily taken down,” Sherris said to Via.
“Huh? I thought Parul (Sister) would be troubled by her emotions for a while. I was thinking Sherris and I could just go buy it ourselves,” Via said.
Via was more emotional, while Sherris was calmer. They both inferred how I would be based on their own experiences, but neither of them expected me to awaken a new ability.
“Alright, stop overthinking and let’s go.” I put on a Black Robe and a mask, completing my disguise. The mask was even the one I used when infiltrating the Murder Church, and I intended to use the same method this time.
After going outside, my aura changed, becoming faint and almost imperceptible, carrying a hint of a Blood smell and killing intent. This was the aura of the Lord of Murder. Occasionally, Vengeful Spirits that drifted near me immediately made way.
“Parul (Sister) really has a bit of a murderer’s scent now,” Via said with a laugh. Of course, she wasn’t afraid of murderers, as she was Undead.
We walked through the streets. One manifestation of the large influx of refugees from outside the city was that Cando City was already overflowing. Now, there were tents and bonfires set up by many people along the roadside, and even quite a few people were awake.
In the past, so many homeless people wandering outside would have been the favorite food of those terrifying entities from strange tales. However, due to the large number of experts who had recently arrived in Cando City, even those terrifying entities seemed to have decreased.
Of course, this didn’t mean there was no danger. I could still see the resentment surrounding the refugees’ tents and the distorted space in the surrounding alleys. They might fall into other dimensions just by getting up to relieve themselves.
They were all helpless. These people didn’t want to stay on the dangerous streets; they were also attacked. Every night, people went missing or were directly killed on the street, but with such a large population, the deaths were just a drop in the ocean.
Finally, we arrived at the place Sherris mentioned. It was desolate, and even in the downtown area, no living person would want to come near this place.
There were no tents set up in the surrounding area. Between two storefronts, in the place with the densest Death Qi, there was a hole covered by an iron plate, resembling an opening for trash disposal or an incinerator.
“This is it. Living people can’t see this opening,” Sherris said, pulling aside the iron plate. Inside was pitch black, bottomless.
“Then how can I see it?” I asked, having become accustomed to situations where I could see some things and not others.
“Parul (Sister)’s Spirit Vision is stronger, or perhaps, you are no longer considered a living person,” Sherris replied.
“The Lord of Murder is also a Death God. His believers are best at controlling the undead,” Via said.
As Lavias’s daughter and a believer of Beelzebub, she knew more about the Lord of Murder, especially since their families were quite close.
Vampires are undead, so they had little to do with Beelzebub, the Demon King of Gluttony, and more connection with one of the Death Trinity, the Lord of Murder. I didn’t expect Lavias to believe in Beelzebub.
However, since they believed in gods from the same origin and both had some connection to death, it wasn’t hard to understand that Lavias had some connection with the Murder Church and had even become an ally.
I understood that it wasn’t just about having high Spirit Vision to see everything. Some illusions actually required low Spirit Vision to be seen. To put it simply, it’s like a broadcast; you need to tune into the right frequency to hear the program; everything else is just noise.
This entrance, for example, was invisible to the living but visible to the undead. And as a member of the Murder Church, I could see the world through the eyes of the dead.
