Chapter 66: Idiot is Actually a Compliment
I successfully escaped the mansion, but I can’t relax yet.
Although I’ve gotten past the Head Maid, there’s no guarantee that other maids won’t come after me. Ruanruan might even send more maids to catch me, and the Xun that transformed might continue to pursue me. I won’t be able to relax unless I get a certain distance away.
But then again, where can I even run to while carrying such a giant egg?
I’m supposed to go to Pure World Glazed Tile, but all I know is that it’s in Japan. I have no idea about anything else. Xue Qing might know the specific location, but how to bring this egg along is also a very real problem.
For now, I need to find a place to stay before I can deal with these other matters.
Speaking of which, where is Lan?
I told her to find Xun and Xiao An, but in the end, I was the one who found them. Where did she go? She didn’t show up at the most crucial moment. If she had been there when I was fighting Miss Shirley, I wouldn’t have had to struggle so much.
No, knowing her style, if I’ve already escaped the mansion…
“Hoo hoo hoo, looking for me?”
Lan suddenly wrapped her arms around me from behind. As I had expected, I sighed helplessly and said, “I knew it… I’m a little impressed with myself for not being startled by your sudden appearances anymore.”
“That just means Juncheng, you understand me completely~”
Yeah—
Only Lan would know my movements. She must have been watching my every step, so there must be a reason she’s only showing up now. She must have done a lot behind the scenes.
“Hoo hoo, otherwise, why do you think Little Bingbing let you go?”
“So it was you after all…” Given Ruanruan was watching us from the rooftop then, it was out of character for her to just watch me and do nothing.
“What did you say to her? To be able to persuade Ruanruan in that state is incredible.”
It was precisely because Ruanruan in that state was in a ‘nothing I say will work’ state that I left directly.
Lan chuckled sinisterly, turned around with her hands behind her back, and said, “I didn’t persuade her. I just told her some ‘facts’.”
“It wouldn’t be about the things you’ve been hiding from me, would it?”
“Eh? Juncheng, your intuition is very sharp today. Yes, I just told her those things.”
“Then you’re still not going to tell me?”
“I’ll tell you when the time comes. But I hope I never have to tell you. After all, I truly don’t want that to happen.”
“Lan, did you have something to do with Xun becoming like that?” Xun was ‘coincidentally’ replaced by the Xun from the real world at that exact moment and went berserk. It didn’t seem like a coincidence at all.
“I guided her there, but it wasn’t me who brought Little Xun Xun in.”
“Could it have been Zihua?” Lan was brought in by that ghost-like entity, Zihua. To be honest, I still haven’t met Zihua. But based on Lan’s description, I’ve already pictured her as a goddess.
“No, it wasn’t her. Ah, the person responsible for explaining this has arrived.”
*N—*
With a screech of brakes and a drifting turn, a Land Rover screeched to a halt in front of me, almost hitting my egg. Then, as the question ‘Who is it?’ surfaced in my mind, the car window rolled down, and the driver appeared.
Nana!
I wondered why I hadn’t seen Nana inside the mansion. So she wasn’t inside at all! When did she get out? And more importantly, how did she get out with all those maids on guard?
Anyway, putting aside the questions swirling in my head, I opened the car door and placed the egg in the back seat. When I turned around to call Xue Qing into the car, I found Xue Qing standing and already dozing off. Her little head bobbed like a pecking chick, her mouth slightly open, and saliva dripped from her lips. It was quite cute, hanging there and moving with her breath.
No wonder she was so quiet earlier; she had fallen asleep. The repeated battles must have exhausted her. Using that skill that only cuts clothes and not bodies probably took a lot of energy. She was a killer before, yet she tried her best to hold back. It must have been difficult for her. Now it was my turn to take care of her. With that thought, I carried Xue Qing into the car. Lan, however, simply phased through the car door and sat in the passenger seat.
“Fasten your seatbelt. We’re about to accelerate.”
“Huh? Waaah!”
Before I could react, the car started and shot forward. Caught off guard without my seatbelt fastened, I hit my head on the back of the seat. Fortunately, I had held onto Xue Qing and the egg, so they were fine. But that was too sudden! And what was with the acceleration? Was that a race car engine?!
“W-wait, slow down! Drive slower! Is it okay to drive this fast?!”
Watching the scenery outside the window blur into streaks, I quickly fastened my seatbelt and secured Xue Qing, holding the egg tightly.
“Is that difficult?”
“…Isn’t it difficult?” To me, it felt like Hell mode… Could it be that she’s sulking because I didn’t find her? Nana’s tone feels a bit cold… If it were the old lady from before, she might be sulking for a cute reason, saying things like ‘That old lady is no match for a young and beautiful woman’ to act spoiled. But this Nana… she seems more like… ‘In dreams, we incubi have absolute dominance.’ ‘The spiritual world is, frankly, no different from a dream. A title has appeared!’
It was only then that I noticed Nana’s head display had changed back to Principal! Nana, like Xun, was replaced by the real-world version. Her brow was furrowed, and she hadn’t relaxed it. She probably reacted this way because she merged with the memories of the real-world Nana…
Through the rearview mirror, I could see Nana smacking her lips, her brow furrowed. She seemed to have a guilty conscience and was too nervous to say anything.
But Lan, unfazed, started teasing her. “Hoo hoo, has the heartless succubus fallen in love again?”
“This is just a dream. Meet me in Juncheng’s dream for a rendezvous. If you think about it that way, Juncheng’s first time was taken by you, a mature woman,SF Light Novel.”
Lan, saying that will definitely cause trouble! Why did you have to provoke her! If Nana got angry and drove straight into the river, we’d all drown! Do we really have to die in such a bizarre way in this place! We finally escaped the mansion, only to…
Another screeching halt. Fortunately, this time I had fastened my seatbelt.
“An Juncheng.”
“Y-yes, it’s me?”
“Our relationship only exists in dreams. Clear.”
“Yes! I’m very clear on that! Do you have any lingering feelings?”
“Heh heh, you didn’t completely deny it… As expected…” Lan’s eyes curved into crescent moons, smiling like a fox who had revealed its true form. “Don’t worry, we’re all women, I understand~”
“After all, it’s very comfortable, isn’t it? Hoo hoo hoo…”
That’s enough, stop provoking the Principal… Nana, ignoring Lan’s suggestive remarks, turned to me. “What about Xun? Didn’t you bring her? Ah, maybe she’s… ‘I brought her here to collect your blood, so I had to send Xun here too.’”
“Yes, if I didn’t do that, I wouldn’t have been able to…”
“Collect blood?” Nana asked, looking confused. I shrugged and explained, “You should know that the body you ate was Xun’s. You let her eat it.”
“Ah, I know, of course. It was my order. So, at that time, I ordered her to eat me.” I explained, seeing her confusion. “Otherwise, Xun would never have eaten me willingly. I just made a deal with Xun’s mother.”
“Don’t look at me like that, my mind isn’t… ‘Can you still stay conscious?’ The Mother of the Black Goat? You face that Outer God with surprising tenderness. She also gave me a chance, saying that if I could find Xun, I could take Xun away, and there would be no need to be… ‘I almost lost my sanity…but that god gave me a chance, saying that if I could find Xun, I could take Xun away, and there would be no need to be…’.
“There’s no way, even if I took Xun away… Looking back now, she didn’t descend upon her to harm Xun, but to cleanse the filthy human existence from her and to complete her soul. She devoured her own soul for my past life and her hair turned into an ominous curse. The emotions of humans probably polluted Xun. To that Outer God (the mommy who dotes on her daughter), only the instigator could complete her soul and thoroughly wash away Xun’s filth. She said Xun must eat me, who caused her to suffer… If Xun ate me, Xun would no longer be a ghoul.”
“The rest of the story is… You explained it quite abstractly, but to put it simply, it’s ‘eating.’ I gave the order, Xun ate me, I died, and then… I’ve already been judged as foolish, blind, and hopeless. To fill the word count. A recap ends here. Recalling further will be considered filler. Yes, you actually agreed to something like that, is your brain alright?
“And after that, I no longer needed to… eat corpses regularly.”
“…Hahaha~ As expected, this is the love I know…”
“You really… the egg… It was nothing, and at the time, I remembered Bo’s promise that I could be a Soul Messenger after death, so I sacrificed myself for righteousness.”
Well, I didn’t expect things to turn out this way, though.
The car had stopped. We had truly arrived. Before I could get out, someone opened the car door and reached in.
“I also think he’s an idiot.”
… I really don’t want to hear that from you.
“Heh heh, an idiot is actually a compliment~”
The one who opened the car door was Li Nai.
