Su, with several paper strips stuck to his face, grinned as he revealed his hand. This time, he had a chance to win!
"..."
Cosmo, sitting beside him with white paper hanging from his face, was not much better off than Chijie. Since earlier, he and Chijie had barely won a single round.
"She seems to be awake."
Although Cosmo's eyes were covered by the paper strips, he noticed Lin stirring.
"?"
Bai Chen turned to look at Lin and indeed saw her brows twitch a few times before she gradually woke up.
The moment she opened her eyes and saw Bai Chen, her confused expression instantly turned to terror.
"Don't! Don't kill me!"
The instant she saw Bai Chen, everything that had just happened came flooding back. Bai Chen had knocked her down with overwhelming strength, then pierced straight through her body.
That excruciating pain felt as though she could still feel it even now.
Seeing the person who had nearly ended her life again, fear instantly filled her mind.
"..."
Seeing Lin so terrified of Bai Chen, everyone else revealed strange expressions to varying degrees.
At such a young age, and already playing around like that?
"Huh? Why is everyone looking at me like that? It's a misunderstanding!!"
Seeing the Flame-Chasers' gazes grow increasingly strange, Bai Chen hurriedly spoke up to stop them from letting their imaginations run wild.
"I was saving her, okay?"
Although he had been rather violent about it, he had indeed acted with the goal of saving Lin.
So Bai Chen explained everything to everyone.
When Bai Chen mentioned that Lin had been reduced to this state by human experimentation, Chijie clearly clicked his tongue in displeasure.
"If I really wanted to kill you, I wouldn't have put that thing on you to preserve your life."
Only then did Lin notice that there seemed to be something unusual on her head, something like a hat.
Lin reached up and touched the item a few times. It felt exceptionally smooth and comfortable.
"? There's something on her head? Is that what's been keeping her alive?"
Vill-V, who had been curious about Lin's condition, also reached out to touch Lin's head.
"Mm, mm, I see."
Vill-V rubbed Lin's forehead with a grave expression for quite a while before solemnly declaring:
"Panties!"
"?!"
"Huh? What nonsense are you talking about?"
"Hmm??"
Everyone present changed expressions upon hearing Vill-V's answer, and Chijie directly snapped at her.
"Griseo, don't listen."
Aponia calmly covered Griseo's ears with both hands, preventing her from being influenced by such filthy words.
"Indeed."
Vill-V yanked the thing off Lin's head, leaving Lin sitting on the sofa in a flustered blush.
The thing she had been wearing was someone else's panties?! Thinking carefully about it, that texture and shape really were...!! Just find somewhere and bury me!
Naturally, Bai Chen could not hear Lin's inner screams. He rushed forward, snatched the panties from Vill-V's hand, and stored them in his system space.
"Don't mess around. This is a divine artifact called Dignity."
"Huh? They're obviously panties. How did you make such soft fabric invisible?"
"Who knows? Just like how I have no idea why I can transform."
Bai Chen said that he truly had no idea.
Then he prepared to leave. Since the person had been rescued, all he had to do now was wait for Dr. Maki to contact Anti-Entropy.
"Wait, thank you for saving me, little brother. Do you know where my grandfather is?"
Lin asked cautiously. Although she knew Bai Chen had saved her life, that claw piercing through her chest had left her traumatized.
"Your grandfather has some matters to deal with. I'll take you to see him once I finish investigating them."
Bai Chen replied flatly.
What a joke. He had thrown her into a World Bubble to create the illusion that she was dead.
If he let her go out to meet her grandfather now, wouldn't her grandfather betray Schicksal?
After going to such lengths just so he could beat up a little old man with a clear conscience, how could he possibly let her out now?
"Don't worry. I'll take good care of your grandfather."
"Y-you... Mobius, it's time for you to pay the price from last time..."
Bai Chen's originally gentle expression instantly turned sinister.
"Ugh!"
Mobius, who had been watching the show from the side, had not expected the fire to suddenly reach her. Her smile froze directly on her face.
"You're not still angry about what happened last time, are you?"
Mobius broke out in a cold sweat as she complained. She had indeed been at fault last time, but she was the one who had suffered, okay? She had become completely flat!
"I am."
The smile on Bai Chen's face became dangerous. She wanted to take Gray Serpent's mother away—she wanted to take his mother away.
"Can we reconcile?"
"What do you think?"
Inside the laboratory of the proper world, all the staff had already left.
Yet Dr. Maki still sat blankly in a chair, holding a wooden box. Inside the box were ashes swept up from the laboratory.
"Otto... Schicksal..."
Dr. Maki endured the fury in his heart, but tears of anguish still slipped uncontrollably from the corners of his eyes.
"I'm sorry... Lin... I'm sorry... everyone..."
Dr. Maki remorsefully apologized to the Valkyries who had died in the experiments, but no matter what he did, he could not calm the regret in his heart.
Then his gaze drifted toward the Serenity Gem preserved in a sealed container within the laboratory, and an idea arose in his heart.
Bait Taken
"Ugh, you actually did it!"
Mobius, dressed in casual clothes, stared warily at Bai Chen.
Now that Bai Chen had brought her from the World Bubble into the proper world, he had fulfilled Mobius's wish in a sense.
"The fact that I didn't find some space to lock you up in is already merciful enough. Now serve me properly. Maybe one day I'll give you your freedom."
Bai Chen bared his teeth in a grin. Who told her that he held grudges?
"Hmph, aren't you afraid I'll just run away?"
Mobius glanced sideways at Bai Chen with a sinister smile.
Bai Chen found Mobius's words somewhat amusing. Run away? Where could she run? He could pull her back with a single Dimensional Wall.
No... Bai Chen was not going to answer her like that.
"Dr. Mobius, you wouldn't want Klein to have an accident, would you?"
Bai Chen leaned close to Mobius and said with a sleazy grin. He had expected Mobius to get at least a little angry, but instead found the smile at the corner of her lips growing wider.
"Why are you smiling?"
As far as Bai Chen was concerned, whenever Mobius smiled, she was definitely plotting something bad.
"Nothing. Don't worry, I can handle something this simple."
Mobius said that she was an adult too. Taking care of a child was easy enough.
A while later.
"Don't give me that bullshit!!"
Bai Chen uncontrollably spat out the tea in his mouth. This tea was poisonous! It was several times more bitter than coffee without sugar!
No! It was so bitter that his head hurt!
Bai Chen painfully pinched his temples with one hand while continuously scraping at his tongue with the other, triggering wave after wave of dry heaving!
No, it tasted like his tongue had been pickled!
Only after quite some time did Bai Chen recover. He looked weakly at Mobius. "Is this what you usually drink?"
Mobius picked up Bai Chen's remaining green liquid and drank it straight down, smacking her lips afterward.
"Is it really that exaggerated? It tastes normal."
When Mobius lacked energy, she usually mixed this kind of drink for herself?
Watching Mobius drink the remaining beverage without changing expression, Bai Chen felt as though his brain had connected to the universe for an instant.
Only after his soul returned a while later did Bai Chen sincerely conclude that everyone's sense of taste truly differed.
"Bai Chen? Why do you look so pale?"
Just as Bai Chen was preparing to pour out the rest of the mysterious green liquid in the pot, Rita's voice sounded behind him.
After arriving, Rita first calmly glanced at Mobius, then stepped forward and took out a handkerchief to wipe the liquid from Bai Chen's lips.
"Hey! Don't treat me like a child."
Bai Chen pushed Rita's hand away, then raised the teapot in his hand.
"Mobius just made me some invigorating tea. Would you like to try it, Sister Rita?"
"Oh? Since Bai Chen says so, Rita will try some first."
As someone who knew a little about tea ceremony, Rita was naturally curious about this tea as well. Since Mobius was drinking it, Rita felt that there should not be much of a problem with it.
Mobius? Was that a little girl's name?
With a trace of doubt, Rita poured herself a cup of tea and elegantly took a sip.
Then Bai Chen noticed that Rita's originally soft body instantly stiffened like stone.
Even the elegant hand holding the teacup began to tremble slightly.
Elegant, elegant, Rita, stay elegant. A professional maid could not reveal such an unsightly appearance!
Although Rita still maintained the gentle smile on her face, a thread of green liquid uncontrollably slid from the corner of her mouth.
Then Rita maintained that posture as she abruptly rose from her chair, trembling all over as she staggered toward the exit.
She did not even say goodbye to Bai Chen before disappearing alone into the sunset...
Bai Chen looked speechlessly at Mobius, but Mobius merely turned her head and continued drinking tea without meeting his eyes...
Even Sister Rita had broken down, and Mobius still said this stuff was normal?
But Sister Rita was tough. She had actually endured it without vomiting, though the first sip had made her nauseous.
To be fair, it really was invigorating.
Realizing that this green tea was no simple thing, Bai Chen did not pour it out. Instead, he found something to store the cup of drink away.
Before you continue