A Beautiful Visitor

(This chapter is free.)

Over the next few days, everything remained calm. The mysterious attack on the street a few days ago seemed to have vanished without a trace. If Pandora had not reported that the two mysterious attackers had escaped, I would have assumed they had been blasted into dust by the omnipresent Shilin Space Weapons.

Today was a rare day off. At noon, Sister cooked in person, saying she wanted to make up for Pan Lili's welcome party, which had been delayed because work had kept her too busy—though the guest of honor herself had no interest in it whatsoever.

They called it a welcome party, but only Pandora, Sister, Xu Qianqian, who had come to join the fun, and I attended. Though there were few of us, this kind of gathering gave me a warm feeling—one that those who spent all day drifting from one social engagement to another would never understand.

Once everyone was seated, Sister spoke first. "Now, let us welcome little Lily's arrival—though this welcome may be a little late."

Qian Qian and I applauded together.

Pandora remained silent, sitting motionless at the table...

Seeing Pandora's complete lack of reaction, Sister's maternal instincts immediately connected it to Pandora's "tragic past." She gently took Pandora's hand and said, "Lily, you don't need to worry anymore. From now on, you're part of this family. I'll take care of you like a real older sister. No one will ever hurt you again."

I completely believed the part about no one being able to hurt Pandora, because according to the historical records gathered so far, the last civilization that had tried to resist the Pandora Legion had already become cosmic dust...

Qian Qian's maternal instincts also flared up. Taking Pandora's other hand, she said, "That's right, little Lily. You'll never have to worry about anyone bullying you again. And with us taking care of you, maybe you'll even get the chance to see again someday!"

Ahem... What I wanted to say was, Pandora could actually see every last E. coli bacterium on your hands...

"A Jun, say something too," Qian Qian said irritably when she saw me silently focusing on picking up food. "She's your little sister! Lily is usually so attached to you, too."

I raised my head and looked at Pandora, who was as cute as a doll but just as cold. Her unfocused eyes turned in my direction. Perhaps because we had communicated through Spiritual Connection for so long, I instinctively felt that all of Pandora's attention was focused on the crispy chicken strips in my hand.

"Here, eat." I extended my chopsticks, then, in order to prove that Pandora really could not see, directly fed the chicken strip into her mouth.

Watching Pandora quietly eat, I was rather curious. As a Mana Construct, how had she become interested in the food of Carbon-Based Lifeforms?

Qian Qian looked helplessly at the interaction between us "siblings," held her forehead, and sighed. "A Jun, you really are... exactly the same as before. You haven't changed at all."

Sister smiled and tried to smooth things over. "Although A Jun may not seem very good at expressing his feelings, he still cares deeply about Lily."

"This guy really isn't good at it..." Qian Qian suddenly sounded a little wistful. "Come to think of it, it's been a long time since we all gathered like this, ever since I moved away."

"Yes," Sister said with a touch of nostalgia. "I remember you two were just little brats, about the same age as Lily is now. When you parted, you cried your eyes out. Now you've both grown up so much..."

"Don't talk as if you're some old granny," I said, rolling my eyes at Sister as she lamented the passing of time. Yet I felt a little guilty. For all these years, Sister had shouldered the burden of the family alone. She was supposed to be my sister, but more often than not, she had played the role of a mother. It was only natural that she would feel this way.

Perhaps from the moment she had taken on the responsibility of this fragile family, her heart had ceased to belong to a young girl.

Qian Qian, who was rather thick-skinned, clearly had not thought that deeply. She laughed and said, "Exactly! Sister Chen Qian is still young and beautiful. Why say something so old-fashioned? Speaking of which, Sister Chen Qian, have you found a boyfriend yet? I wonder which lucky guy will receive such an honor?"

"Dead Girl!" Sister scolded with a smile. "Can't you think of something more proper?"

"How is that improper? This concerns Sister Chen Qian's lifelong happiness!"

They said women had two great skills: chatting and shopping. Sister and Qian Qian had now perfectly demonstrated the first one for me. Before long, the two of them had completely entered conversation mode, to the point that Pandora—the original focus of this gathering—had been left off to the side.

"Ah, I got so caught up in teasing you that I forgot little Lily!" Sister finally realized, crying out in surprise. Unfortunately, Pandora had shown no reaction from beginning to end. Whether she was being unintentionally ignored or having her name called now, she merely quietly ate the food in front of her, occasionally feeling around with her chopsticks to play the role of a blind girl. She looked as though the entire world had abandoned her.

Pandora, you're going to make Sister feel guilty...

Sure enough, seeing Pandora like that, the two girls who had been chatting so happily immediately began blaming themselves. Sister was the first to raise the untouched glass of wine before her. "Lily, I'm sorry. Sister will drink a penalty glass!"

I hurriedly tried to stop her. "Sister, don't..."

Too late...

The whole process could be summed up in a few words: raise glass, touch lips, Sister instantly collapses.

Looking at Sister, who had already fallen onto the table, Qian Qian said, "I didn't expect Sister Chen Qian's alcohol tolerance to still be this low."

Just then, Pandora's voice suddenly rang in my mind. "Brother, one of the two Carbon-Based Lifeforms who attacked us yesterday has appeared."

I was startled, but I did not show it. While chatting and laughing with Qian Qian, I asked through Spiritual Connection, "What's going on? Where is that person? Did she come for us?"

"Right outside the door. The other party still shows no hostility. Based on a comprehensive analysis of the hormonal state in her body, she has no intention of attacking, but her threat level cannot be ruled out."

Outside the door?

I pondered for a moment, then replied through Spiritual Connection, "Don't stop her. Watch and wait. If she really makes a move, prioritize protecting Sister and Qian Qian—"

At that moment, the doorbell rang.

"Huh, A Jun, did you invite someone else over today?" Qian Qian asked curiously.

"Oh." I waved for Qian Qian, who was about to get up, to sit down. "It's a friend. Keep Lily company for now. I'll get the door."

Although Pandora had told me that the other party had no hostile intent, and although I believed Pandora could deal with everything before the other party attacked, she was still someone who had ambushed me a few days ago. Her methods had also been quite formidable. So as I stood at the door, I could not help feeling a little nervous.

But the moment I opened the door, that nervousness immediately turned into surprise.

I had imagined that the other party might be a cold-faced young man, a scruffy middle-aged man in black, a scar-faced thug with vicious eyes, or even a fully armed terrorist. But I had never imagined that she would be a beautiful, sweet-looking, tall girl.

However, the expression of the beauty before me, dressed in a pale yellow coat with shoulder-length hair, was not very pleasant. Though she tried to smile, I could easily detect the deep anger beneath it.

It seemed she had suffered quite a bit under those Shilin weapons over the past few days.

Because her appearance was so far beyond my expectations, none of the lines I had prepared beforehand came to use. We stared at each other awkwardly for several seconds before I finally blurted out, "You're really hard to kill!"

The pretty face of the beauty opposite me instantly darkened.

Lin Xue was very unhappy. Extremely unhappy!

The reason was the man standing before her.

About ten days ago, a school shooting had occurred at the school Lin Xue had transferred to for a mission. Several students had been injured. Since her ability was not suited for direct combat, Lin Xue chose to report the situation to her superiors and wait for support. But just after she finished reporting, the three armed thugs suddenly collapsed to the ground and began behaving abnormally. After examination, the doctors were shocked to discover that their IQs had dropped to roughly that of rats. In other words, they had become idiots.

Although the incident was full of suspicious details, not a single witness could provide any valuable information—except Lin Xue.

She had noticed two things worth paying attention to.

The first was when the three criminals fell. Lin Xue clearly remembered that they had been standing there one moment, but the next instant they were lying on the ground as idiots. There had been no process of falling in between—it was as if a segment had been cut out of a video! Such an obvious anomaly should have been noticed by anyone, but the situation had been too chaotic. Not one of the fleeing students had noticed it, to the point that Lin Xue now wondered whether she had seen it wrong.

If the first point could possibly have been a mistake, then there was absolutely no problem with the second—after the three criminals fell, Lin Xue sensed abnormal energy fluctuations from the two students across from her.

Lin Xue had absolute confidence in her own ability, so she immediately reported the matter to her superiors. Her superiors then instructed her to test the targets.

And then, that nightmare of a day arrived.

Lin Xue clearly remembered that when Lin Feng's Wind Blade passed by the older student, he showed no reaction at all. Even the weakest Esper could not possibly fail to sense the obvious energy fluctuation Lin Feng had deliberately released. Just as Lin Xue thought her judgment had been wrong and that they were merely two ordinary students, she discovered that not only had the two immediately noticed the traces left by the Wind Blade, they were even calmly discussing something!

They had noticed her attack long ago, and they had not taken it seriously at all!

After reaching that conclusion, Lin Xue immediately decided to retreat. But it seemed everything was already too late, because an energy so terrifying it made her heart tremble gathered above her head almost instantly. Lin Xue even suspected that if such immense energy struck the ground, it might directly vaporize the entire city!

The death she expected did not arrive. Perhaps out of consideration for innocent people, the other party stopped the attack, and the energy gathered in the sky rapidly dispersed—though it had already caused a minor commotion during the process.

Feeling the other party's power, Lin Xue decisively grabbed Lin Feng, who still did not fully understand what was happening, and began fleeing for her life.

They ran for an entire day and night.

The other party did not seem to intend to kill them. They were merely toying with Lin Xue and Lin Feng. Invisible columns of energy followed close behind them without pause, driving them to run through the streets like madmen. Whenever they were exhausted and had no choice but to rest, that energy would stop as well. Then, once they had recovered even a little strength, that deadly energy would follow again...

This cat-and-mouse torment continued until the next morning.

Then Lin Xue and Lin Feng took a taxi back from a nearby town...

Despite being chased into such a sorry state, Lin Xue still did not dare offend those two, because Espers this powerful were simply too valuable to the organization. No matter what, she could not let her own actions turn them against the organization.

Therefore, Lin Xue had come today, suppressing the grievance and anger of being toyed with, to apologize. Yet she had never expected the other party's first words to be that!