Chapter 16: Wednesday of Samsara Under Mercury (4)
I found Lanhua!
Finally found her!
Although I absolutely didn’t expect to encounter her in this kind of place and in this form, the thread undeniably points to her now!
Yama King’s guess was correct. The Yata no Kagami is definitely related to Lanhua, and she might even have it in her possession right now!
Since we’ve gotten this close, Lanhua’s involvement in the entire matter is a foregone conclusion, so there’s no way I’m letting her go.
Or rather, by the time I thought of this, my body had already moved.
I took large strides towards Lanhua, who had just entered the store. As I approached within a few meters, I saw the expression on her face.
It was a troubled look, as if she had just arrived at an unfamiliar place and felt uneasy.
A shadow of doubt flickered through my mind; things might not go as smoothly as I thought. But my hand had already grabbed Lanhua’s wrist.
“….Huh? What do you want!”
Lanhua, whose wrist I had grabbed, instinctively tried to break free. I calmly spoke her name.
“Hm? Huh?! Zi, Zi’ai?!”
Lanhua immediately snapped back to reality and looked up sharply, her eyes wide with surprise as she called out my name.
That surprised expression didn’t seem faked, and Lanhua probably hadn’t expected to run into me here at all.
“It’s me. Why are you here?”
“I just came out to buy something to eat—this is the only 24-hour supermarket around here. Ah….”
“Just came out to buy food?”
“Yeah…. But Zi’ai, where have you been all this time! Do you know everyone’s been looking for you! Especially that….”
“Looking for me? What for?”
What is she talking about… I’ve been here all along.
Although I’ve been appearing as Juncheng lately, those who know the inside story know where I am.
We’ve been the ones looking for Lanhua all this time, yet here she is, turning the tables and saying everyone’s looking for me…
This reaction is really strange.
“What do you mean ‘what for’! Of course, it’s because—”
*Rumble rumble*—
Lanhua’s stomach growled mid-sentence, suggesting that she wasn’t lying about coming out for food.
Playing hide-and-seek and wandering until now, her meals and sleep must have been unstable. That’s probably why she’d end up bumping into me at a supermarket like this.
In any case, Lanhua didn’t seem like she was trying to escape, so I decided to let her eat something before we continued our conversation.
“Hey, Shopkeeper, do you have anything to eat here?”
The little shopkeeper, who had been propping his chin on his hand and observing us with interest, stood up when I called him. After a moment’s pause, he awkwardly scratched his head and replied.
“Uh, no…”
“This is a supermarket, isn’t it? Don’t you have any food?”
“I told you this isn’t a normal supermarket! Besides, as a ghost, I don’t need to eat, so why would I keep useless food in the store!”
“Tch…. Not all customers are ghosts. You’re not very considerate.”
As expected, it’s a shabby store, with no food at all.
“Hey, hey, that’s enough! I told you this is a place where I sell special items! It’s a hidden shop! Normally, when you encounter a shop selling cheat items like this in a game, anyone would be happy! Who comes to my place looking for phone chargers and food! You guys are quite peculiar too!”
The shota ghost glared at me, puffing out his cheeks in dissatisfaction and turning his head away. But after a few seconds, he turned back, jumped off his stool, and muttered.
“Fine! It’s just food, I’ll get you something edible! And don’t you dare call my place shabby again!”
Oh, is he sulking?
He’s quite a decent person, this little shopkeeper.
“Huh? Ghost…..”
“What is it?”
“N-nothing….”
Although she said it was nothing, Lanhua’s expression was full of confusion.
And the way she looked at me was filled with pity and worry, as if she were looking at someone mentally ill…. She looked at the shota shopkeeper the same way.
She must be looking at us like that because the shota shopkeeper mentioned the supernatural.
But that shouldn’t be right….
Lanhua isn’t someone who hasn’t seen ghosts before. The Section Chief of Investigation Department, Miss Akiko, is a genuine ghost and often wears a white nightgown to scare us, making jokes only ghosts would understand.
So, why is Lanhua acting as if she’s never known ghosts to exist….
Could it be that she’s so stimulated by Juncheng’s death that her memory is disoriented and she’s lost her mind?
That’s not impossible, which is probably why she’s appeared before me like this.
Otherwise, knowing Lanhua’s usual behavior, even if she were coming to a supermarket to buy something, she would first survey the store, check for any suspicious individuals, and only then appear after confirming it was safe.
“No! Now’s not the time. Zi’ai, where exactly are you and I now—”
“Don’t rush. In any case, the shopkeeper seems to be getting us food. We can talk about things after we’ve filled our stomachs.”
“…..”
Lanhua’s shoulders drooped, and she sat down obediently.
04:04 AM
The shota shopkeeper returned with several bowls of instant noodles, some bread, and a brand-new charger with a cable compatible with my phone.
He truly cared about not being able to provide the items the customers wanted.
How cute. I don’t know how many years the shopkeeper has existed as a ghost, but despite his mature demeanor outwardly, he’s still a child at heart.
Lanhua and I went into the employee break room inside to let her eat and regain her energy, while I also charged my phone.
Next, I need to inform the others that Lanhua has been found.
After eating, Lanhua drank a glass of water and let out a sigh. Her complexion seemed to have recovered a lot.
She hesitated for a moment and then asked me.
“Zi’ai, where have you been all this time? Do you know you’ve b—….”
I disappeared? What is she talking about?
When did I…? Wait, could she be referring to me disappearing ‘in my original world’?
In that case, does that mean Lanhua in front of me is…..
“Am I dreaming right now…? Zi’ai?”
“Uh, I’m fine. Why do you ask?”
“I feel like… you’ve changed. The environment hasn’t changed much, but the people seem different. Should I say my memory is messed up… First, my aunt was like that, it was terrible… After escaping home, I also tried to find some people, but they all acted like they didn’t know me… Could it be that my memory is the problem?”
Lanhua held her forehead, her eyes filled with anxiety and confusion.
So, it really is like that.
Is this Lanhua from my world? I couldn’t prove that transmigration only happened to me. If this Lanhua also transmigrated, does that mean there are two Lanhua’s in this world now?
But why would the thread point to the Lanhua in front of me… This Lanhua should have no abnormalities, so what clues could she possibly have?
Why, oh why, do the two worlds intersect?
