Chapter 84: Is She…?

Blazing Candlelight almost filled the entire small room, but the flickering tongues of fire emitted no warmth; they seemed like nothing more than an intersection of light and shadow.

Luo Wei raised her hand slightly. In an instant, the candle flames converged until only a single, solid little spark remained, dancing upon the candlestick. Despite the reduction, the darkness in the room had been thoroughly dispelled, leaving it as bright as day.

Numerous Dream Bubbles surrounded by Candlelight drifted about, looking like a dreamlike tableau.

These were the various transcendent materials Luo Wei had previously “acquired” from the Dream Sanctum. One could consider it the Dream Sanctum’s final small contribution to this world.

I have at least several thousand units of Candlelight…

Luo Wei walked to the candlestick, gazing at the condensed flame. A faint smile played at the corners of her mouth.

Like a person who had long been poor suddenly stumbling upon a windfall, her excitement was easy to imagine.

Unfortunately, such a miracle would not be repeated.

The reason Luo Wei had been able to harvest so much Candlelight was because she had ignited the entirety of The Spectral Kolun County.

In that Kolun County—a city destroyed twenty years ago in another timeline—almost all the citizens had met violent deaths.

However, their souls had been eternally trapped within that polluted city by the pitch-black Horror brought by The Rainy Night, never able to find peace.

It was Clecia who had maintained the pollution released from her true body, temporarily easing the torment of their constant wailing. That torture was more painful than death, more helpless than oblivion.

When the two Kolun Counties from different timelines overlapped, the two realities superimposed. The unification of timelines attempted to let the souls—turned into Horror—consume their present-day selves. But at that precise moment, these souls were also able to manifest their spectral characteristics once more.

Since they were souls, things became much simpler for Luo Wei.

Under a sky full of stars, the Candlelight ignited. An indescribable starlight-fire consumed the entire city.

Not only did it allow the suffering souls to find release, but it also enabled Luo Wei to harvest an untold amount of Candlelight.

“Why does it feel like I’m accumulating merit? Like performing a rite for the deceased…”

Luo Wei thought of this for some reason, rubbed her chin, and sighed. “It’s a pity I didn’t think of it then. Otherwise, I would have started chanting and striking a wooden fish.”

One strike for one point of merit; it would have been perfect.

The abundance of Candlelight meant Luo Wei no longer had to be as stingy as before. With a grand wave of her hand, she activated every Wisdom Core within her puppet body. All the Incantations emitted a faint, cold glow.

Before Luo Wei could begin to feel the changes brought about by the activation of these Incantations, she heard a soft murmur, like a whisper from a dream.

“Luo Wei… Sister…”

Luo Wei looked down and saw that Clecia, lying on the floor, was half-awake. Within her slightly opened eyes, a deep darkness seemed to flash for a fleeting moment.

“I almost forgot about Clecia.”

Luo Wei slapped her forehead and hurried to help Clecia up.

“It hurts…”

Just then, Clecia made a small, miserable face and murmured.

“Where does it hurt?”

Luo Wei was startled. She immediately checked Clecia’s Information Stream, trying to find the source of pollution, but found nothing.

Although Clecia’s physical stats were quite weak compared to an ordinary person and couldn’t be called healthy, she was generally normal.

She hadn’t been affected by the destruction of The Spectral Kolun County or eroded by the pitch-black Horror.

“My n-neck… my neck hurts…”

Clecia’s head hung limp, and the features on her small face were scrunched together in pain.

“Stop… please stop lifting me, Sister Luo Wei…”

“Ah!”

Luo Wei quickly let go. Only then did she realize Clecia’s anomaly.

When she checked the Information Stream again, a look of strange embarrassment appeared on Luo Wei’s face.

Previously, she had only been checking if Clecia had sustained any transcendent injuries, but she hadn’t realized… that in this state, Clecia was essentially human.

Clecia… had a stiff neck.

They had returned in a hurry, and since this Witch’s Cottage didn’t really have many places to rest, she couldn’t exactly just hoist Clecia onto the desk, could she?

Therefore, out of necessity, Luo Wei had been forced to leave Clecia on the floor.

So… this wasn’t her fault.

Yes, exactly.

She was not in the wrong!

“Clecia, do you feel any other problems with your body? Besides… the stiff neck,” Luo Wei asked, clearing her throat to ease the awkwardness.

When the two Kolun Counties overlapped, Clecia’s horrific soul-consciousness re-merged with her present-day body. Previously, her body had struggled to contain that horrific power, causing her constant, agonizing illness. Now… she seemed a bit better?

Because The Spectral Kolun County, which shared a powerful bond with Clecia, had completely vanished during this process, Luo Wei wasn’t sure if it had affected her. The Information Stream she could access only provided routine data; deeper levels of perception were only known to Clecia herself.

“It seems… not?”

Clecia hesitated for a moment before saying, “It doesn’t hurt as much anymore… Ow, ow, my neck, my neck…”

“Don’t move. I’ll go find a hot towel for you!… Wait, does this place even have hot water?”

Unfortunately, a Lady Witch’s cottage did not require hot water. Luo Wei knew this without even looking.

“For now… just keep that posture,” Luo Wei said with an air of professional solemnity. “Actually, you look quite cute like that, Clecia.”

“R-really?”

Already shy, Clecia’s face flushed slightly at Luo Wei’s praise. Although she spent most of her time in a dream state, her aesthetics were still those of a human, and she knew very well how exceptionally beautiful Sister Luo Wei was.

For such a stunningly beautiful older sister to call her cute…

“If you could change back to your previous form, you’d be even cuter,” Luo Wei suddenly remarked wistfully.

“My previous… form?”

Clecia’s head remained tilted, her face showing a hint of Confusion.

But she soon realized what Luo Wei was talking about. Her eyes widened, and she nearly jerked her head straight in shock. “Sister Luo Wei, surely you don’t mean… that terrifying monster form! Ow, ow, ow…”

“Stop moving! I’ll try to give you a massage!”

Luo Wei carefully placed her hands on Clecia’s shoulders, gently kneading them. This prompted Clecia to giggle, her shoulders trembling.

“It… it’s a bit ticklish, Sister Luo Wei. Your hands are so cold…”

“Cold? I’ll adjust it.”

“Eek! Now it’s too hot!”

“It’s my first time using this function; I’m not quite used to it yet.”

Luo Wei meticulously adjusted the puppet’s body temperature to a comfortable level. Unskilled in the art of massage, she didn’t dare use much pressure and simply rubbed as gently as possible.

At that moment, Clecia asked in a small voice, “Sister Luo Wei, do you really think… my true appearance is cute?”

When she had fully awakened, Clecia already knew that her current human shell had perished twenty years ago along with the destruction of Kolun County.

It was merely an illusion.

The real her was a terrifying monster.

She knew exactly how horrifying it was.

And yet… Sister Luo Wei said she was cute.

Was she lying?

Or was it…

Without getting Luo Wei’s answer, Clecia’s heart pounded like a trapped bird, filled with nervous tension.

“Of course,” Luo Wei said as if it were the most natural thing in the world. “It’s truly very cute.”

Slippery snake-hair, a body filled with grotesque beauty, and tentacles that were twisted and ferocious yet possessed an aesthetic grace…

For Luo Wei, it hit her preferences with surgical precision.

“B-but, I look like a monster…”

Clecia lowered her head slightly. Because of Luo Wei’s massage, her stiff neck was easing up a bit.

“Is there a conflict between being a monster and being cute?” Luo Wei asked curiously.

“Huh?”

Clecia froze, but the hesitation and distress on her face did not fade. “But… everyone else is so afraid.”

“Listen to me, Clecia.” Luo Wei’s tone suddenly became a bit more serious. She cupped Clecia’s bewildered little face and said, “If your sister knew what you truly looked like, do you think she would be afraid of you?”

“No.”

Clecia shook her head, speaking with absolute certainty.

“Since the person you care about most wouldn’t fear your true form, why do you care about the opinions of others?” Luo Wei said softly. “Besides, sometimes… being feared is not a bad thing.”

Clecia stared straight at Luo Wei. The Confusion on her face gradually dissipated, eventually blooming into a smile.

“Yes… yes, Sister Luo Wei, you’re right. I… I understand now.”

So what if others looked at her with fear?

As long as the people she cared about didn’t mind—or even liked her true form—that was enough.

As that thought surfaced, a change occurred in Clecia.

Her smile split into three parts, and a blood-red hue surged from the depths of her eyes. A ghostly blue vertical pupil opened at the center of her forehead, and countless twisted snakes uncoiled from her hair, gently entwining themselves around Luo Wei’s hands.

At the same time, several tentacles—woven from a blend of illusion and reality—reached out. The Ash-White, dim eyeballs upon them rolled around, gazing at Luo Wei with a look saturated with profound emotion.

“Sister Luo Wei… am I… cute now?” Clecia asked in a low voice.

She knew that her biological sister, Claudia, would never fear her true appearance. But she didn’t know if Sister Luo Wei’s words just now were merely to comfort her, or if…

“You are… simply too cute!”

Luo Wei’s eyes lit up. She buried her face directly into Clecia’s embrace, using the puppet’s skin to feel the texture of Clecia’s body.

Clecia was caught off guard, her tentacles waving frantically as if she were in a flustered panic.

But after a moment, Clecia regained her composure. Her tentacles folded down gently, wrapping around the petite Luo Wei as she murmured softly, “I see. That’s… wonderful.”

Sister Luo Wei, you are now… also the person I care about most…

The smile on Clecia’s face deepened, radiating happiness. She looked up slightly, as if looking toward her sister’s soul in the heavens.

Sister, from now on… you don’t need to worry about me anymore.

After enjoying Clecia’s wondrous tactile sensations for a good while, Luo Wei suddenly felt a bit of envy; how great it would be if she could transform like this too.

Luo Wei suddenly remembered that within her Wisdom Core, there were several new Incantations.

She had yet to explore their meanings, but she was certain they were extension functions of this puppet body.

From the process of executing the puppet’s recipe previously, Luo Wei knew that some of the puppet’s transcendent qualities came from the blood within the Blood Refinement Magic Potion.

Should I try… using Clecia’s blood?

On a whim, Luo Wei pulled slightly away from Clecia’s embrace.

Clecia sensed the struggle. Although she was reluctant to let go, she released Luo Wei and said with a hint of disappointment, “Sister Luo Wei…”

“Don’t be so formal. Just call me Sister Wei, and I’ll call you Cleo,” Luo Wei said. “That should be fine, right?”

Hearing constant honorifics made her a bit uncomfortable.

The term for “Sister” Clecia had been using was a respectful address for an older female who wasn’t a relative—it wasn’t the same word she used for Claudia. The “Sister Wei” Luo Wei suggested was more intimate.

“Mmm! Of course! No problem at all!”

Clecia nodded repeatedly, her slight disappointment vanishing instantly, replaced by a wonderful, inexpressible feeling in her heart.

She actually wants me to call her Sister Wei… and she’s even calling me by my nickname. Is she…?

“By the way, give me a bit of your blood. I need to try some new things,” Luo Wei said. “Not too much—”

Before she could finish, one of Clecia’s tentacles pierced directly into her own heart, drew out a portion of heart-blood, and extended it right in front of Luo Wei. She blinked her terrifying yet innocent eyes and said, “Sister Wei, Sister Wei, is this enough?”

Even though Clecia could heal a heart wound in a single breath, the scene was still quite jarring.

Luo Wei sighed inwardly. Cleo seems a bit slow-witted. What if she runs into a bad person and gets tricked?

Fortunately, she wasn’t a bad person.

“Cleo, don’t hurt yourself like that in the future. Just a tiny bit of blood is enough.”

Luo Wei spoke seriously. She only wanted to see if it would work; any changes brought by a drop of blood could be precisely monitored through the Information Stream.

“Ah! S-sorry… I’ll be careful next time!” Clecia panicked slightly.

“There’s no need to apologize. It’s fine.”

Luo Wei’s tone softened. Clecia was like a child, which made sense; she was only twelve years old.

Wait, was she really twelve?

The Kolun County disaster happened twenty years ago. If the real Clecia had been born then, she should be… twenty?

Anyway, she’s younger than me. She’s still a little sister.

Thinking this, Luo Wei reached out and took hold of Clecia’s tentacle. She lowered her head slightly and gently tasted the blood from it.

Watching this—especially seeing the back of Luo Wei’s head as she leaned in—Clecia felt an unexplainable fluster, yet a sweet taste surged from the depths of her heart, a sensation she had never experienced before. Why… why is this happening?