“But… isn’t marriage… only something a man and a woman can do?” Veronica asked, her expression clouded with confusion.
“Really? I think anyone can do it!” Dorothy replied, her face a mask of pure, wide-eyed innocence.
“Does Dorothy mean that by using marriage to forge a legal bond—to stay together officially—the Allomnesia would effectively be cured?” Veronica slowly began to grasp the logic.
“Exactly!”
“But… two girls… is that really okay?”
“It’s no problem at all. This book has plenty of examples.”
Dorothy pulled a small pamphlet from some unknown hiding place and flipped to a dog-eared page, holding it up for Veronica to see.
After reading only a few lines, the little girl’s mouth fell open. Her face turned so red it looked ready to drip blood, as if a door to a whole new world had just been kicked off its hinges.
“What kind of book is that?”
Wang Yue leaned over to take a peek, let out a sudden, strangled yelp, and snatched it away. In one smooth motion—mimicking a professional discus thrower—she hurled the “unholy manual” straight out the window!
“My book!” Dorothy let out a short cry and tried to chase after it, but Wang Yue grabbed her before she could move.
“Dorothy, if the Dean finds out you’re circulating literature like that in school, she’ll turn you into ash.”
“Why?”
“Because that book is filled with immense evil… By the way, were you under the influence of that thing when you tried to sneak into my bed the other night?” Wang Yue eyed her suspiciously.
“Absolutely not!” Dorothy shook her head like a rattle.
Wang Yue turned back to Veronica, her tone grave and sincere.
“Don’t try to take shortcuts anymore. Haven’t we learned enough from that octopus? If you want to cure her, look for a real treatment for Allomnesia. If you can find one, it won’t just be Cerceybe—everyone in the world suffering from this condition will become your friend. You’ll be the Florence Nightingale of our time.”
Veronica nodded earnestly, taking the lesson to heart.
However, after leaving the room, she circled back to the street and quietly picked the book up.
Wang Yue and her roommates stayed in Crowsnest Town for two days.
Since they had secured a room ahead of time, their quality of life was guaranteed, making for a very comfortable weekend.
The only disappointment was the Grilled Salamander. The texture in Crowsnest Town was far inferior to what they had tasted in the Quicksand Lowlands; both Dorothy and Dina agreed there was a significant gap in quality.
That didn’t stop Dorothy from eating her fill, though.
In the Crimson Zone, the smallest safety zones were functional camps, like the Quicksand Lowlands or explorer outposts.
Mid-sized safety zones were castles—essentially oversized outposts.
Large safety zones were towns, such as Crowsnest Town or Fishmouth Town.
If one traveled further out into the relatively safer Pale or Lead-Grey zones, or even closer to the places where sunlight reached, there were Great Towns. A Great Town was three or four times the size of a standard town, fully functional, densely populated, and usually built on resource-rich land.
Due to the constraints of the terrain, there were no cities in the Evernight Realm.
As they were checking out, Wang Yue heard a voice.
“Guest, you forgot your pet.”
She looked around, but there was no one near her.
“It’s me! You forgot something!” the octopus shouted from inside the room. “Take me with you!”
“Oh, if it isn’t the Octopus Prince. Wait patiently for your childhood friend to return. See ya.”
Wang Yue moved to shut the door.
“You’ll regret this! I’m useful! You’re going to need my help!” the octopus cried out in a panic.
“Then explain it to me. What use is an Octopus Prince? Can you get me free seafood?” Wang Yue asked mockingly.
“I am the great—”
“The great Audara Ias, the God of Deceiving Little Girls. You’re really pathetic, you know that?”
“That was a misunderstanding! I swear I had no ill intent! And, to put it bluntly, ninety-nine percent of supernatural powers have side effects on humans… Wang Yue, I believe that someone with your reputation for justice and independent thought will surely clear my name…”
Slam!
The door closed.
Wang Yue really didn’t appreciate moral kidnapping, even if the other party was layering on the flattery.
“Speak!” the octopus roared like a stuck pig. “What do you want?! Just say it!”
“Oh, I was just waiting for you to say that,” Wang Yue said, her face brightening with a smile. “My demands aren’t high. Just give me a few Special Grade Relics.”
“Where am I supposed to find those for you?!”
“Well, goodbye then…”
“Wait, don’t go! Let me think… my memory is far too vast, I need to recall… I remember now! The ‘Amorphous Sheath’! I know the whereabouts of that Special Grade Relic!”
Wang Yue stopped in her tracks. She didn’t answer immediately, instead communicating with White Fish to look up the data.
The “Amorphous Sheath” was indeed a Special Grade Relic.
According to the records, its inactive state was that of a silver-white metal ingot.
Once activated, the Amorphous Sheath would turn into a fluid, covering the wielder’s body in a thin silver film. This film was incredibly flexible, impossible to penetrate or tear. However, it was too soft; it deformed easily.
In essence, if a person were hacked into eighty pieces, the film would remain perfectly intact—but its function would shift from being light armor to a literal body bag.
In terms of actual defensive capability, it was worse than a suit of chainmail.
It’s so magical.
It’s so useless.
The two thoughts bounced back and forth in Wang Yue’s head.
It was resistant to all the world’s sharpness and brute force, yet it could hardly be defined as armor.
However, its compatibility with her Avatar was excellent. With the Amorphous Sheath, her Avatar wouldn’t lose body fluids or tissue during combat. Its combat effectiveness would take a qualitative leap.
Ed-Bear was staying in the room next to Wang Yue’s.
Before “going on the clock,” it had spent a long time doing psychological work on Helen. The little girl thought it was about to run away again and looked at it as if it were a cheating scumbag, gripping its clothes with her little hands and refusing to let go.
Regardless of whether she agreed or not, Ed-Bear had to leave; it wasn’t something it could control.
After arriving at the Quicksand Lowlands, it had followed Wang Yue to Crowsnest Town. Later, in order to play the role of the petite Dorothy, it had “unloaded” three-quarters of its mass.
The discarded portion of its body had been left in the hotel room.
By the time it returned, that portion of the body had grown into a bizarre nest composed of crimson, overlapping folds of flesh and twisted tentacles, firmly adhered to the corner of the room.
In the center of the nest was a large hole filled with mucus; lying inside would repair any bodily damage. If not for Wang Yue’s explicit orders, it would have even given this flesh-nest the ability to hunt for itself.
As the master of the Avatar, Wang Yue synchronized with all of Ed-Bear’s thoughts and actions. She realized that without restraints, this Avatar was no different from a monster.
What defined a monster?
Humans had three choices: Good, Evil, or Neutral. Monsters only had the latter two. They were either evil or neutral.
Thus, Wang Yue added a few more behavioral rules to the Avatar. She had no desire to have a detailed memory of Ed-Bear eating a human transmitted to her mind; that would be far too traumatic.
Audara Ias revealed the location of the Amorphous Sheath.
However, it wasn’t a beacon pointing to a specific coordinate, but rather four distinct geographical landmarks.
There were no satellite maps in this world. To find these landmarks, she would need to conduct a targeted investigation.
Wang Yue synchronized the landmarks to the Avatar in the next room, then walked out of the hotel carrying the octopus jar.
