Incomplete

When they arrived at the big man's home, he had Linton and the others sit in the crude living room for a while as he went to prepare rooms for them. Iris said she wanted to help him, but the big man firmly refused her request with reasons like, "Guests should behave like guests."

Thus, two people and one spirit sat in silence beneath the dim candlelight.

Linton was lost in thought and had never been much of a talker to begin with. Bella looked somewhat haggard, her head hanging low, and naturally had no desire to converse either. In the end, Miss Puppet was the first to break the silence.

To that end, Iris picked a topic that was not too sharp.

"Say, why can't that man see Bella?"

Linton raised his head and chuckled. "He's just an ordinary person. He has no magic power, so naturally he can't see a spirit body formed from magic power."

"Oh." Iris nodded, then asked, "Weren't we supposed to take Bella back to her home? Since we've already asked where her home is, why don't we just go there directly?"

This question made Linton fall silent for a moment.

The first task was to take Bella home, but he wanted even more to investigate the second task, which was filled with question marks and offered no clues whatsoever.

But he could not tell Iris that, so he could only force out an explanation. "I think things aren't that simple. There was a lot in what that man said just now that deserves looking into."

"He's a bad person." Bella suddenly lifted her head and said softly, "I obviously like flowers very much."

It seemed the girl was deeply resistant to having her hobby denied and had continued to dwell on it.

Linton rubbed her head and smiled. "I know, I know. But Bella, do you know what good people and bad people mean?"

Bella thought for a moment, then said, "Good people... People like Big Brother are good people."

"Thank you." Linton smiled gently. "But we've only just met. Why do you think I'm a good person?"

"Because Big Brother smells nice, feels comfortable, and gives me candy!" The girl blinked her watery eyes. "Candy is sweet, so Big Brother is a good person."

"Then what kind of people are bad people?"

"Bad people are..." Bella gestured in the air with both hands for a long while. "This sister is a bad person, and that grown-up is a bad person. Other than Big Brother, everyone in the world is a bad person!"

Even Linton was startled by Bella's words.

Just as he was about to press further, the big man emerged from the other side, forcing him to swallow the words already at his lips for the time being.

"All done, you two. Get some rest early."

"Thank you."

"May the blossoms bless you."

In the cluttered yet clean room, Iris thought back on the big man's words and remained silent for a long time.

Although Bella was a spirit body and had existed for at least several years, both her words and actions retained the innocence expected of someone her age. Yet after the big man's description, which was almost completely at odds with that image, and Bella's seemingly world-weary words, Iris found it difficult to believe that this child still possessed only the innocence she showed on the surface.

She first glanced at the makeshift bedboards, where the girl slept peacefully.

Then she turned to stare at the necromancer standing by the window, watching the moon, and softly asked, "Do you still believe her? Believe that she only wants to go home?"

Linton turned around and gave Miss Knight an ambiguous answer. "Completely trusting someone is a very difficult thing, even if that person is a child."

"So..."

"But not trusting her doesn't mean she has lied to us."

Iris tilted her head, making it clear that she did not understand.

Linton smiled and said slowly, "Iris, when you were little, what kind of person did you think was a bad person?"

"You couldn't get anything out of Bella, so now you're trying me, right?" Iris shot him a glance, then pondered for a moment before answering. "When I was little, I thought those 'guests' in my home were bad people, because they were too noisy and often kept me from sleeping."

Linton nodded. "You wanted to sleep, but those people interfered with your desire, so you thought they were bad people. That truly is the way children think."

"What's wrong with that?" The girl's face was full of question marks.

"Children's thoughts are actually very simple. Whoever makes them feel happy is a good person, while whoever brings them negative emotions is a bad person," Linton said slowly. "You and Bella started arguing the moment you met. Even though you nearly lost the argument, she still thinks you're a bad person. The male head of this household is the same—he brought her negative emotions, so he is a bad person. But why does she think everyone else is a bad person too?"

"Who nearly lost the argument? I just didn't want to stoop to a child's level, okay?" Iris retorted indignantly. "As for why she thinks everyone is bad, how would I know?"

Linton spread his hands with a smile. "I don't know either."

Miss Puppet nearly spat out blood at his abrupt reversal and could not help saying sarcastically, "I thought you were about to make some grand speech again. So there are actually things in this world that even you don't know."

"I'm not some god. How could I know everything?" Linton did not react to the girl's mockery. He merely shrugged and said, "Perhaps even she herself doesn't know why she thinks that way."

Iris desperately wanted to ask him why, but she was afraid he would give her another "I don't know either."

But as though he could see what the girl was thinking, Linton smiled. "Don't you want to know why? If that's the case, then I won't say it."

"I do! I want to know so badly!" Miss Puppet practically ground her molars to dust, forcing every word out through clenched teeth.

A pleased expression appeared on Linton's face before turning calm once more. He shifted his gaze to the sleeping girl.

"She is incomplete."

Iris froze. "What do you mean?"

"Do you remember the candy I gave her?"

"I remember." Iris nodded. "Something about extracting, transmitting, and whatever else..."

"You didn't remember any of it at all, did you?" Linton shot her a sideways glance, though he did not mind and continued, "I extracted my own sensations and transmitted them to her. But this method of transmission was not one-way. It flowed both ways."

"At the moment she received my sensations, a channel was formed between us, and some of her emotions flowed back as well."

"That feeling contained joy and sorrow, good and evil."

Iris tilted her head. "That sounds ordinary. What part of her is incomplete?"

Linton was silent for a while before saying, "That evil was countless times greater than all her other emotions combined."

"But that evil was not amplified. Rather, nearly all her other emotions had been stripped away and suppressed, leaving what was called malice to dominate alone."

"Of course, because that malice was the most immense, it was also the first to suffer beneath the blade of time. The Bella we see now is not very aggressive and possesses abundant emotions, both joy and malice, precisely because that immense malice has been damaged until it is nearly equal in measure to her other emotions..."

"As for why her other emotions were suppressed, why her malice was amplified, and why she sees everyone as a bad person..."

"Perhaps that is the answer we need to find?"