Who Exactly Is Trying to Tempt Whom Here? / We Need to Find a Way to Give Acheron a Chance to Shine

"Are you okay...?"

"Shut up!! Get lost!"

Some of the children who were usually on good terms with him wanted to check on him, only to be cursed away by the child king after he completely lost it.

Everyone saw just how badly he had embarrassed himself.

Then Lin Shuang said:

"Now, you must choose two people to stay here before the rest can leave. Don't expect the Cloud Knights to come save you. They still haven't arrived after all this time, so they clearly can't break through these flames."

"Impossible—!"

"My dad will definitely come save me!"

The children were still talking tough, but through the power of the Heliobus, Lin Shuang could clearly sense the fear and terror already growing in their hearts.

Volume One: Who Was Persuading Whom, Exactly?

Lin Shuang had merely tried imitating Acheron's presence, yet she had already frightened these children into submission.

Two of them even wet themselves on the spot, losing every shred of dignity.

She had no interest in their mutual attacks and betrayals.

Human nature was inherently evil. During childhood, before a complete moral framework had formed, once naked malice began to show itself—

—it could be even more terrifying than that of many adults.

Because a child's malice had nothing to do with gains or losses. It only depended on whether it pleased them.

Besides, none of these were good children. They had never done any shortage of bad things.

Once the spark had been lit, Lin Shuang no longer needed to put any more thought into it.

The flames and darkness that existed only in the children's eyes were naturally just an illusion constructed by Lin Shuang. Otherwise, flames that large would inevitably have drawn the Cloud Knights.

Of course, Lin Shuang figured these children might still go home and complain afterward.

But if any Cloud Knights really came looking for trouble, Lin Shuang would not mind throwing her weight around.

Lin Shuang looked to the side. Danshu, who could not see the illusion, had already taken the girl's hand and carefully stepped down from the stairs.

"Thank you, big sister."

The little girl could not see, but she knew Lin Shuang had helped her. She solemnly bowed to Lin Shuang.

Lin Shuang smiled and raised a hand to stroke the little girl's hair.

Very cute.

Compared to this side,

the bullies nearby had completely fallen apart.

The child who had led them was the first to be pushed out. Having lost face so thoroughly, he was in turn subjected to the harsh reckoning of everyone else.

Once the cycle of mutual blame began, there was no turning back.

In the end, everyone was accused in turn. Those with weaker nerves had already begun bawling their eyes out.

With the environment Lin Shuang had deliberately created, these children would probably be left with a very deep psychological scar from today.

But what was even more ruthless was that Lin Shuang had deliberately blocked the transmission of sound waves, using vibrations in the air to cancel them out.

She then used light manipulation to interfere with their vision, ensuring that even passersby would not notice anything unusual here.

By the time these children had completely fallen apart and selected two sacrifices, their relationships with one another were effectively over.

Lin Shuang no longer paid any attention to those brats.

She silently watched from the side as Danshu sternly warned the girl, then thoughtfully placed the medicine in her palm.

After the two of them escorted the little girl home, Danshu suddenly spoke.

"Young Friend Lin acted just now, did she not? Though I could not see it, I could sense a slight discordance. If the passing Cloud Knights were not so reliant on their eyes, I imagine they would have noticed something amiss, just as I and that child did."

Lin Shuang did not answer. She merely watched the children seize what they believed was an opportunity and flee in panic, then gave a soft laugh.

"Even a prosperous place like the Xianzhou cannot avoid such things, it seems."

"Yes... Those of us who are Heavenly Defect sufferers inevitably suffer bullying in our youth. Even if we endure countless hardships and rise to high positions, we still remain helpless before many things."

Danshu let out a long sigh.

Lin Shuang could sense that Danshu was sincerely lamenting her own helplessness.

"Wartime and peacetime are different. The Xianzhou cannot remain unchanged forever. If Miss Danshu truly has the will, she should go to the Department of Civil Affairs and prescribe remedies for people's hearts, rather than stay in the Alchemy Commission."

For the Luofu of the Xianzhou, stopping here to rest and recuperate had only been a recent development.

The way things were done in an age of war naturally differed from that of peace. Yet for a long-lived species, the scale of time was ultimately different.

Its systems, laws, and even moral standards were all different.

But the Luofu's stopover was only temporary, and threats had never truly gone away.

The Luofu's general likely had never considered such matters either. After all, the Department of Civil Affairs had still not divided and reorganized its functions even now.

Just thinking about it made Lin Shuang's scalp tingle.

"Is that so?"

Danshu was momentarily stunned by Lin Shuang's words. Her rhythm had been completely disrupted.

She had originally intended to use the Heavenly Defect sufferers to bring up the matter of Abundant Doses, then use that as an excuse to persuade Lin Shuang. Who would have thought Lin Shuang would turn the conversation in this direction?

More importantly, Danshu had joined the Alchemy Commission in the first place because she wanted to cure Heavenly Defects. Yet she had never considered the possibility of going to the Department of Civil Affairs.

Lin Shuang was not surprised by Danshu's startled expression.

Thinking of this, Lin Shuang suddenly flipped her hand, and an exquisite card landed in her palm. She gave the deck a simple shuffle, spread it out, and held it before Danshu.

"Miss Danshu, I once obtained a deck of cards that can glimpse fate. Would you like to draw one?"

"Hehe~ Since when did Young Friend Lin start acting as mysteriously as the people from the Divination Department? Very well, then. Let me draw one."

Danshu lightly covered her mouth as she laughed. As though simply humoring Lin Shuang, she casually pointed at a card and picked it up.

When she turned it over, the image of The Hierophant faced her.

In other words,

the reversed Hierophant.

The Hierophant represented faith, belief, spiritual guidance, support, and help.

Danshu gently stroked the card. Every pattern on its gilded surface had faint raised textures. Her fingers moved over the card before finally stopping on the words "The Hierophant."

"'The Hierophant,' is it? Would Young Friend Lin be willing to interpret it for me?"

Lin Shuang blinked. A reversed Hierophant represented the transmission of false information, obstacles in communication, blind comfort, and ineffective assistance. It could also mean unfulfilled wishes, being used, or being abandoned.

It probably represented both the present and Danshu's future and ending.

Lin Shuang was not skilled at interpreting cards, but when combined with Danshu's story and information from the game, many things matched up.

A miserable childhood, salvation after joining the Alchemy Commission, and then the loss of that salvation, which made Danshu completely hate The Hunt that should have come to help the Xianzhou.

False information, communication barriers, and so on...

As well as her future ending, where the Trailblazers would shatter her plans and Phantylia would cast her aside.

"...The card is not very good. Perhaps you have experienced some communication barriers, and have received—or will receive—some false information or conclusions. This could lead to you being used, or even abandoned."

Lin Shuang selected several meanings and spoke them word by word. Danshu's expression gradually turned colder with each one.

"..."

She did not know whether Lin Shuang's actions today were unintentional or deliberate, whether these words had truly been divined, or whether Lin Shuang was warning her.

Could Lin Shuang have already discovered who the one cooperating with Abundant Doses really was?

Danshu suddenly realized that the situation, which should have been under her control as she persuaded Lin Shuang, was beginning to grow unclear.

Had Lin Shuang seen through her? Was she warning Danshu in return?

After a long silence, Danshu suddenly said:

"Young Friend Lin, could you explain it to me in greater detail?"

But Lin Shuang merely shook her head slightly.

"I only glimpsed a hazy corner of fate through the cards. Excessive interpretation brings adverse effects. What Miss Danshu may need is a rational examination and guidance."

"...Then I shall accept Young Friend Lin's kind words."

Danshu fell silent. Who exactly was persuading whom here?

Volume One: I Need to Find a Chance for Acheron to Show What She Can Do

Lin Shuang felt that the Tarot Cards she had obtained from the lottery seemed quite useful.

Both readings, for herself and for Danshu, had been accurate.

After parting with Danshu at Ruomu Pavilion, Lin Shuang strolled through the streets while considering her next plan.

She wondered what Abundant Doses would think of Phantylia after this divination had frightened Danshu a little.

This was only the beginning. She still needed to work harder and pry this corner loose.

The power of the Heliobus Acheron had brought back was even more useful than Lin Shuang had expected, which inevitably made Lin Shuang set her sights on Phantylia.

Although she had previously not wanted Acheron to go looking for trouble with Phantylia.

The main reason was that Acheron always seemed a little dazed. She might just charge in alone with her sword.

That would not do. It had nothing to do with strength; Lin Shuang simply could not stop worrying.

If she could lure Phantylia out now, have Jing Yuan and the Lightning-Lord serve as backup on the Xianzhou, and find an opening to give Phantylia a slash—

then perhaps she could tear away half of Phantylia's power with the strength of Acheron's blade and devour it herself.

The power of Acheron's slash, combined with the Lightning-Lord, should be enough to heavily injure Phantylia before she used Jianmu.

Mm.

Then, after Phantylia had been heavily wounded by Jing Yuan and herself, she could ask Acheron to help capture and deal with Phantylia.

That would also satisfy Acheron's desire to do something for her!

After all, accepting someone else's goodwill could also be a form of kindness.

Acheron was currently at the stage where her emotions were gradually recovering. Lin Shuang could not keep rejecting her goodwill forever.

Though Acheron was very strong, she was somewhat clumsy when it came to expressing her feelings.

Lin Shuang always felt as though Acheron wanted to pluck the stars and moon from the sky for her.

Just catching a Heliobus had made Acheron hurry back to see Lin Shuang, which had given Lin Shuang some sense of Acheron's feelings.

Acheron had even believed the Heliobus's intelligence based solely on Lin Shuang's word.

To be honest, that made Lin Shuang rather worried. Why was she so foolishly trusting? She believed everything Lin Shuang said.

Lin Shuang even felt that, even if she had rejected Acheron's proposal at the time, Acheron would probably still set her sights on other great Heliobus in the future.

The main thing was that Lin Shuang did not want Acheron to fight at full strength.

Acheron's power came from Nihility. The more she used it, the more Nihility would stain her. The side effects were currently restrained, but who could guarantee that the complimentary ring would remain effective forever as Nihility's shadow deepened?

So Lin Shuang still needed to make some subtle moves behind the scenes.

If Acheron went to slash a severely weakened Phantylia, would that not be much safer?

When the time came, Lin Shuang could stay at Acheron's side and cheer her on without worry.

Unless Phantylia was severely weakened in advance, Lin Shuang truly could not rest easy letting Acheron fight an Emanator at full strength.

Better safe than sorry.

If anything really happened to Acheron, Lin Shuang would regret it to death.

But she could not say that in front of Acheron, so she had to secretly make some small moves behind her back.

For now, she would first pry loose Danshu's side.