Chapter 14: Disappear Without a Trace
“So what does being an agent entail? What can I do for you?”
If it’s for Xiao An, I can do anything!
Come on! I’m super strong and brave right now!
I looked at Xiao An with high spirits, like an excellent cadre awaiting orders, waiting for Xiao An to tell me the details of the Godly War.
However, Xiao An merely turned her head indifferently, glanced at me with the look one gives an idiot, and said.
“You don’t need to do anything. It’s just a formality. It doesn’t matter if you lose.”
“Ah? I don’t need to do anything?”
“If the Godly War didn’t require all gods to participate mandatorily, I wouldn’t bother explaining. I’m just giving you a heads-up so that when you’re suddenly dragged into something inexplicable later, you won’t be clueless about what’s happening.”
“…But, don’t you need to gather faith, Xiao An?”
Perhaps I was asking too many questions, disturbing Xiao An’s gaming mood. She frowned with great displeasure and said.
“Didn’t I tell you? I’m currently residing within you, and you are my only ‘believer.’ My existence depends on your state! To put it plainly, as long as you believe I exist, I can continue to exist. But if you forget me, I will disappear too! Do you understand, you big idiot!”
After shouting a torrent of words, Xiao An realized what she had said. Her face flushed red as she turned her head away, no longer looking at me.
And I said in a teasing tone.
“Heh~ So I’m that important~”
“…You’re getting carried away! I was originally a divine child, an ancient god. I wouldn’t disappear even without faith!”
Oh, indeed. Both the name Amaterasu and the legend of the Three-legged Golden Crow are very famous.
From this, it can be seen that Xiao An is actually a remarkable god. When she was sealed in the Yata no Kagami, she was already in a state of severed faith, yet Xiao An didn’t disappear because of it.
“Then what’s the use of gathering faith?”
*SF Light Novel
The use… is to grow larger.
“Grow larger?”
As I said those words, I subconsciously glanced at Xiao An’s chest, which was infinitely close to a straight line… inadvertently casting a look of pity and sympathy.
Xiao An was annoyed and almost threw her game controller at me. No, she actually threw it.
“Where are you looking, you degenerate! I mean my body will grow!”
“Oh, so you mean changing from a loli form to an Onee-san form?”
You can be both loli and Onee-san? Amazing.
I actually kind of want to see Xiao An in her Onee-san form.
“Anyway, that’s not important. There’s something more important for you to do.”
“Hey, Xiao An, you should go to sleep early.”
“Got it! You’re so annoying!”
She’s already finding me annoying… I shook my head helplessly, sighed like a disdained old father, and lay down on the bed.
Before long, I had fallen asleep.
Around three in the morning, I got up to get some water because I was thirsty. I found that the room was completely dark. Xiao An was curled up, sleeping obediently beside me.
I smiled and patted her head, then covered her with the blanket.
As I got up to get some water, I noticed the screen of my phone, which was on the nightstand, suddenly light up.
Before the vibration even started, I picked up my phone, intending to leave the room to answer it. But when I reached the door, the vibration stopped, and a notification flashed, “You have a missed call.”
There was no caller ID, which meant it wasn’t someone from the liaison department. Actually, I only have a few phone numbers saved on my phone right now.
Who could this unknown number be?
Speaking of which, when I gave Yinhua my phone number last time, I forgot to save her number on my own phone.
Could it be her?
Well, I’ll find out by calling back. I was also thirsty and wanted some water.
I opened the door and walked out. After carefully closing the door, I tiptoed down the stairs. On the second floor, the phone rang again.
This time, I answered it directly and said in a low voice.
“Hello? Who is this?”
But after I asked, there was no reply from the other end for a long time. Just as I was about to take the phone away to check, suspecting they had hung up, a faint voice came from the phone.
“Juncheng…”
I couldn’t hear the voice clearly at first and couldn’t tell who it was. I only heard them seem to be calling my name.
To confirm their identity, I asked again.
“Hello? Hello? Who are you? What do you need?”
This time, I didn’t have to wait long for a reply. The voice got louder, but the noise also increased. The rustling background sound was like the static from a TV with no signal.
“…static… -..- …- …- …”
*Crack!*
It suddenly cut off again.
What… The signal is that bad? I glanced at the signal indicator above; it was full.
So, is the other party’s signal bad? I couldn’t hear what they were saying clearly because of the noise… What is this? A paranormal phone call? A prank? Or a distress signal from someone?
Thinking about this, I couldn’t fall asleep for the rest of the night. I was too preoccupied with that strange phone call and couldn’t sleep at all.
Who on earth called me?
I was still pondering this question when I woke up in the morning.
For breakfast today, Ke Ling came down obediently to eat. It seemed that although the ending of last night’s dinner wasn’t too good, it had some persuasive effect on Ke Ling.
However, we still went to school separately, even with a few minutes apart.
I was the last one to leave, so I ran into the classroom just as the bell rang. Fortunately, I made it before the teacher entered.
Sitting down at my seat, I breathed a sigh of relief. Lian Bing, behind me, said with a smile.
“…Made it.”
“Hehehe, Juncheng, you were the last one here~”
“Is that so?”
I looked around and noticed there was still an empty seat… so I couldn’t be the last one…
I was also very familiar with the owner of that empty seat, Lanhua.
“Lanhua isn’t here today either? Taking another day off?”
I asked casually, but Lian Bing looked at me doubtfully and asked.
“Lan…”
“Yes, what about it?”
“Who is that?”
Huh? Lian Bing doesn’t know Lanhua? That’s not possible!
“The person sitting in the next row.”
“This seat has always been empty.”
“Hehehe, Juncheng, are you still half asleep?”
I’m half asleep… Impossible!
Let alone half asleep, even if I’d had bad wine, I wouldn’t mistake the person sitting behind me, next to Lian Bing’s seat.
It’s definitely Lan, or Lanhua.
I was a bit bewildered and immediately thought that perhaps Lian Bing was joking. After all, the relationship between Lan and Lian Bing was like fated adversaries; there was always friction between them, but occasionally they would stand on the same side. They were like good partners who were adversaries.
So, it was highly possible that Lian Bing was joking about Lan.
However… that expression didn’t seem like a joke at all.
I really didn’t know. At this moment, the worst possible scenario flashed through my mind.
But I didn’t want to admit it yet, so I thought again and remembered a crucial point.
That was Gao Yingnuo and A Liang. Both of them were Lan’s childhood friends. They must know Lan…
But no.
Even they, who had known Lan since elementary school, said they didn’t know Lanhua…
It’s not April Fool’s Day today, either?
Are you all collectively lying to me?
This means only I have a problem…
Lanhua… It’s as if she never existed to begin with. Her existence has been erased.
She vanished without a trace.
She disappeared without a trace.
