"Since this is something that cannot be avoided no matter what."
"Then let's do it earnestly!"
"I, your truly, will eliminate you in the name of the moon!"
Chapter 28: The Person Pined For Day and Night
"Eliminate you in the name of the moon!"
The voice was as soft as a mosquito's, and the movements were more awkward than a clumsy dance.
It looked just like a caterpillar swaying its body somewhere trying to scare away its natural enemy, wriggling about everywhere. Not only was it devoid of any aesthetic, but it was also downright laughable.
One could even say that compared to those caterpillars, those insects at least had a certain probability of actually scaring their predators away.
Yet this caterpillar-like action had no effect whatsoever.
Except for making people laugh.
Of course, no one was watching here, so naturally no one laughed.
"As expected, it still doesn't work." Li Pu deflated, squatted behind a tree, and whispered, "I feel like I still can't let go!"
"No! If this goes on, that feeling of a heartbeat will fade away."
Some things have a time limit; this wasn't his true emotion. The feelings triggered by Cecilia's emotions had a time limit and wouldn't stay constant.
That fluttering feeling in the heart would gradually fade away.
Excitement, yearning, no matter what kind of emotion, it would little by little return to plainness.
He wanted to take the opportunity while this emotion was still present, while it still lingered, to complete the final step of 'equipping' as much as possible. But making that Transformation Dance actually happen was really difficult.
After dancing a round or two, he couldn't get that flavor out anymore!
I am not a pretty girl, dammit, Li Pu cursed inwardly. Dammit, to become a Know-It-All, do you really have to be this shameless first?
Eh? That's not right, is it?
He suddenly felt like he had grasped some key point. As long as he had this key point, if he used it to string everything into a line, then the true key to equipping might be on the verge of revealing itself!
So what was this key point? As a Know-It-All, he should know everything.
A Know-It-All? Li Pu's mind suddenly cleared up.
The core of a Know-It-All was 'knowing', and after equipping a role, the amount of 'knowing' could increase combat power. Whether it was crafting equipment to COS, reading data and character profiles, or even letting that weird machine make him experience the life of that era, the core part lay in knowing!
And the system said he had to pass through the Transformation Dance to equip, but in reality, he had already equipped it.
The difference lay in whether it was spiritual or not.
So actually, to keep it continuously effective, it should be about 'knowing'? Or rather, achieving synchronization and consistency in certain places?
Mhm, I reckon it should work like this. Li Pu closed his eyes without calming his mind. He quickly mobilized all his emotions, all his thoughts, and all his memories to adapt to that previous emotion.
That was the intense emotion brought by Cecilia.
This was a mother's longing for her children, a mother's love for her children.
Perhaps Li Pu had no experience of being a parent, but as long as one was human, there was one thing that could be done. That was the ability to empathize. Simply put, it was 'experiencing others' emotions by putting oneself in their shoes'.
Everyone had this ability, whether strong or weak, deep or shallow.
Because of the ability to empathize, different people without blood relations were linked together to jointly build a social team.
Empathy was also a foundational emotional method for the formation of human society.
And for this emotion, you didn't need to act; you just needed to avoid forcibly restraining or suppressing this feeling.
He had no experience as a parent, but as someone else's child, he knew what family affection was, and he also knew parents' love for their children. Regardless of what kind of existence this equipped role ultimately was.
Yet judging from that excited and intense emotion just now, this was the truest and purest emotion.
She was the truest emotion coming from this role.
If Li Pu needed to restore a character through COS, and not just equipment, makeup, hairstyles, and the like, then the emotions belonging to this character were also one of those things.
Right now, this was a mother's longing for her children, the deepest and cleanest love.
It was also the emotion most likely to resonate with a person.
There was no need to dance any messy Transformation Dance, nor was there any need to deliberately simulate it.
Feel it with your heart, feel the emotional resonance brought by this love.
When he no longer suppressed, no longer considered how to dance some strange Transformation Dance, but purely released this emotion, letting himself think and perceive it by putting himself in her shoes.
Let this emotion reach its absolute peak!
Suddenly, Li Pu felt something in his heart reach its peak.
Without realizing it, he placed one hand over his chest.
He softly called out...
Calling out that name.
"Kiana."
Where are you?! Where are you?! Where!
Kiana ran out like a madman, chasing after the disappearing footsteps of that youth, ignoring everything! Completely disregarding the school's rules and requests, she searched frantically.
Searching for that figure!
I don't know! I don't know!
She didn't know why she saw her in that person's figure, but that emotion was real! That was the call of blood ties, the call between souls!
It was her!
It was the person she pined for day and night, the one she desired most!
She was right here, standing right in front of her just a few minutes ago.
Close at hand, gently touching her face like that.
At that moment, Kiana's thoughts surged like a spring. She had so, so, so many things she wanted to tell her, so many questions she wanted to ask her!
She had to find her!
She had to find her!
She was clearly right here; she shouldn't have run far.
Kiana looked around everywhere. Her mouth opened as if to shout loudly, but she was at a loss for words, not knowing how to call out. He looked like a somewhat timid, strange, and even a bit lecherous youth.
Yet why did she see her figure in him, why did she truly and clearly feel her presence on him?
She didn't understand, nor did she know.
So what if she didn't?
Some things, some emotions, once they erupted, would never disappear again! Even if it was fake, she had to figure it out!
Because that figure was the person she pined for day and night, the one she longed to see and embrace every single day and night!
Kiana stopped in her tracks at the edge of that grove.
The person was very close, right nearby; he had vanished right here.
Where could he be?
Did he hide in the grove? Or did he turn off somewhere else?
This grove wasn't large; one could see across it at a glance, and it could hardly hide a person. No one would foolishly hide themselves here.
He must have run off somewhere else. Kiana turned her direction, intending to search for traces elsewhere.
Yet right at this moment.
Kiana suddenly heard a sound.
This sound was calling out!
Calling her name.
Kiana instantly stopped in her tracks, looking toward the source of that sound.
It was the green grove she had just overlooked.
Kiana gazed at that patch of woods.
In that small grove, tiny specks of starlight appeared, small points of light like green fireflies emerging deep within the woods, and those little specks of starlight fluttered and danced away with the gentle breeze.
Along with that breeze, a strand of silver hair fluttered in the wind, drifting out from behind a tree.
Chapter 29: I Miss You, Mother
So this is what they call equipping...
Li Pu stuffed his hands into his pockets and looked at the extra piece that had appeared on his chest.
How should he describe this feeling?
Like in other novels where one's curiosity flares up, and then after earnest research, one comes to some incredible conclusion? It felt like it should be that way, and even if he studied it, there was nothing wrong with it. But in reality...
There was no particular desire.
It felt as though something had suddenly been added to his brain.
Why did he say it felt like it?
Because these things could be said to be very Schrödinger's cat; the moment you wanted to earnestly investigate, it felt like nothing was there. The moment you didn't want to earnestly investigate, those things came right back like this.
They were like fragments of memory, recording one event after another.
And they were also like fragments of knowledge, recording skill after skill.
In short, it was just like the law of Schrödinger's cat—it seemed to exist and yet not exist at the same time. If you couldn't observe it, then existence and non-existence were superimposed together.
Yet observation also seemed very Schrödinger's cat; when you tried to observe, you couldn't seem to observe it, but when you didn't observe, you seemed to be able to observe it.
This feeling of repeatedly jumping back and forth could be said to be very quantum.
As for this body...
"Ah... how should I put it," Li Pu crossed his arms and said, "Although I already guessed it, still..."
It felt a bit hard to accept.
The so-called equipping, and it actually had to be through dancing some Transformation Dance. He even had to wear cross-dressing and such. With so many elements linked together, even in the mind of a naive person, an extra option would naturally appear.
Transformation!
The male-to-female kind.
This wasn't some low-probability event, but rather a fairly high-probability occurrence. It seemed many systems shared such a tacky hobby.
Instead of directly finding a female protagonist, they would find a male and make him the female protagonist.
For this kind of thing to fall on his own head.
Truly, every speck of dust from the system falling on a transmigrator is a mountain.
Li Pu leaned against the tall tree behind him, not having the heart to think too much about it. He didn't feel like running any tests either; perhaps this time he would just wait for everything to slowly pass by.
He had equipped it, but he didn't know how to unequip it.
The system said that for characters with a low 'knowing' value like this, the equipping time was also very short.
Probably only about ten minutes or so.
It's a bit long. Li Pu had nothing to do. With his hands behind his back, he raised his head and looked at the specks of sunlight filtering through the canopy overhead. He slowly closed his eyes.
However, since it's already equipped, and achieved through elevating this emotion.
Then right now, I understand Cecilia's words.
What would the real Cecilia do?
What would she do? Li Pu went to simulate this feeling again, or rather, perhaps this wasn't a simulation. Because the intense emotion and his own emotion had achieved an extremely high synchronization, leading to the equipment guided by resonance.
Before you continue