Chapter 74: I Want Them All
“Lou Ling? Yo! Lou Ling! ?”
She wasn’t answering me even when I called. It felt like she had lost her soul. I was leaning on her, completely unsure of what to do.
Li Nai was by my side now, and even if I called out to the world, that person might not necessarily appear to see me. But what was I supposed to do now?
I supported Lou Ling’s waist, gently patted her shoulder, and repeatedly called her name, but it didn’t wake her.
“”.
Just as I was about to take a step back, Lou Ling’s body leaned forward with me. If I stepped back any further, she would definitely fall flat on her face.
What was going on? She couldn’t even walk anymore. Her thoughts had stopped.
Why could I deduce this? Of course, it was by deduction. Lou Ling’s legs were gone. Although prosthetic legs that were almost indistinguishable from real ones were later attached, allowing her to walk independently, she still didn’t have the feeling of having legs. In other words, unlike how we move our legs unconsciously when walking, she had to consciously think “walk” to make her legs move. It felt like controlling an EVA.
“It’s useless. She can’t hear anything anymore.”
“Uh? Li Nai?”
Li Nai scratched her head and sighed helplessly. The hand that had been holding my wrist let go, and she roughly pulled Lou Ling up by her arm.
“I know this state very well because I was like this before. Although I eventually came out of my self-imposed isolation with a sliver of survival instinct, she’s even worse off than I was then.”
“Worse than you were then?”
“Yes, don’t think I’ve always been this cheerful. I used to be quite gloomy. I only changed because I made an effort.”
“That’s amazing.”
I vividly remembered that a long time ago, when Li Nai was still a mentally challenged zombie, she had shown me her ID photo from before she died. She was a beautiful girl with a melancholic aura, like a literary maiden. It was a complete 180-degree change from the current energetic and vibrant Li Nai. Changing oneself through effort… But Lou Ling’s situation wasn’t something that could be solved with ‘effort’. Her very existence was an anomaly, a variable introduced by the world.
“So, leave her to me. While you’re good at saving girls, guiding them is my domain. Juncheng, you can go home and sleep.”
“Can I leave it to you?”
“I think it’s safer for me to take her back than for you to take her home and ruin her.”
“Alright, then I’ll leave it to you.”
Li Nai puffed out her cheeks, exhaled, and shrugged.
“I feel it’s a shame, after all, it’s rare to have time alone together. I was thinking of… re-conditioning you, Juncheng.”
Re-conditioning? !
“Wait, I think I heard a very ominous word. What were you planning to do with me at your place?”
“Oh, well, since someone has shown off right in front of me, if I don’t make him remember some things physically, he’ll keep making mistakes again and again.”
There was no need to interpret that! This SF Light Novel! Li Nai was still bothered by it! By what happened this morning! So, her initial indifference was a ruse to lure me in? The real goal was to bring me back to her lair and transform me? Wow, are the current tactics this deep? Li Nai has even started playing mind games? I trusted you so much, and thought that with Li Nai, there would be no problems!
Then, Li Nai said something that completely changed my perspective, filled with explosive information.
“I can feel my jealousy intensifying a bit. Juncheng, you should know about this, right?”
“”
Li Nai actually realized it? How could that be? With her intelligence… no, it’s not about IQ, it’s EQ. Anyway, I found it amazing. My impression of Li Nai was still that she knew nothing.
“You noticed?”
“I noticed it when I saw you this morning. I had already resolved not to be jealous no matter how many women you had, but this morning I was jealous. My resolve would not waver so easily, meaning I was influenced by something.”
So rational! Her analysis was coherent, and crucially, she guessed the truth! Has Li Nai become a character who relies on logic? How is this possible!
“Nainai, did you take the wrong medicine? Like, medicine that makes people smarter?”
This time, even Li Nai couldn’t be bothered to retort. She squinted her eyes and looked at me with contempt.
“Juncheng, don’t fool around at a time like this.”
Perhaps I still had a prejudice against Li Nai, and thought she was essentially still the lively, optimistic, and mentally simple Li Nai.
“Heh heh, with just this little bit of jealousy, you dare to expect to occupy my heart? Aren’t you underestimating my love for you! Love is the highest, strongest, invincible power in the universe!”
Alright, Li Nai was still Li Nai. It was just that she wasn’t the type of person who acted after thinking. She was inherently a creature of pure emotion, so an intensified emotion wouldn’t have that much of an impact on her? No, it should just be that the time frame was extended. Others might lose their minds in a week, but for Li Nai, because the proportion of emotion in her was already large, this process was slowed down.
If I seized this opportunity, perhaps that matter could be negotiated?
“Right, Li Nai, there’s one more thing…”
“No!”
“I haven’t even said what it is yet…”
She refused me outright.
“Anyway, Juncheng, you’re speaking to me so politely, you must want me to retract what I said earlier, right?”
“. That’s true.”
“So, no, I won’t agree. Those words are absolute. You must confess to Xinran, Juncheng. And a fake confession won’t do.”
My head hurts. She had to be so principled at a time like this!
“But looking at it now, whether it’s me or Xinran, we are both losers. You don’t truly mean it to either of us, do you? A playboy who changes women like clothes.”
“I don’t think the word ‘change’ is appropriate.”
“That’s right, because Juncheng is the ‘I want them all’ type? Only children make choices. Juncheng is no longer a child. As an adult, the choice is…”
She smiled without finishing her sentence. I paused and then nodded.
‘That’s right.’
“I want them all.”
I had indeed made that decision.
Li Nai dramatically feigned tears upon hearing this.
“Sob sob sob, I didn’t expect you to be such a bad man! When you were little, you were so pure, full of justice, and especially cute!”
I said with a bitter smile, “I’m sorry, I’ve become not cute anymore.”
Seeing my complex expression, Li Nai stopped her act and extended her free hand. She seemed to have intended to pat my head, but stopped halfway and instead placed her hand on my chest.
“You’re a man now, so I can’t pat your head anymore. Even though you’re not cute anymore…”
Five years ago, she looked down at me. Five years later, she still had to look up at me. Only the smile remained the same.
“Being bad-looking also looks quite handsome~”
