Chapter 80

So, as Chu Wangshu held her breath and waited for a reply, the other person's voice slowly fell:

"I have work today, and although I can squeeze in some time, I can't stay for long, is that alright?"

The little girl's eyes crinkled with delight as she nodded, but she restrained herself, responding normally:

"Yes, that's fine."

"Okay, it'll take me about an hour to drive here. I'll call you when I get there."

Chu Yuanqing hung up the phone, then struggled to her feet and looked at her disheveled reflection in the mirror.

The girl's knees were scraped raw by the tiles, her clothes and skirt were stained with bright red blood, and the blood on her palms was no longer sticky, but almost congealed, a poignant sight. Combined with her white hair and golden eyes, she exuded a brokenness that seemed otherworldly.

The scene inside the restroom was even more horrifying, akin to a postmodern abstract painting. Thickly applied blood, like graffiti, ran along the sink to the floor tiles, resembling a murder scene that the perpetrator hadn't had time to clean up.

Fortunately, as Magical Girl, her blood is essentially magic, and it can be completely washed away by evaporation with magic.

Similarly, bloodstains on the face, hands, and clothes can also be made clean in the same way.

Even the scent will only linger, a pleasant fragrance like roses or the fragrance of withered flowers.

In fact, she could now smell the fragrance of flowers amidst the pervasive stench of blood.

Therefore, the one hour that Chu Yuanqing set was enough for the body's rejection process to end, the magic source to stop being disordered, and to easily eliminate these problems.

Now the only thing to consider is how to meet with Xiao Shu.

Chu Yuanqing chose such a high-risk method not only to avoid holding his teammates back, but also, more importantly, to prepare for meeting his daughter.

While the gazes of the Public Performance audience on stage were certainly annoying, the magical power generated by their positive emotions was immense, even comparable to that of Live Broadcast Room with millions of viewers.

Yes, two thousand live audience members are comparable to tens of millions of live viewers.

There's always this illusion that's urging me to hurry up and hold a concert for 100,000 people, hoping to ascend to heaven in one fell swoop.

Let's set aside the intriguing reasons for now.

In short, after experiencing a strong rejection reaction, the magic source of the Lantern Pendant expanded by about ten times, finally evolving from an extremely useless Magical Girl into a somewhat useless Magical Girl!

The Magic Clone, which was originally considered "advanced magic," can now finally be used normally and lasts for two hours.

Chu Yuanqing had already planned that while his alter ego "Chu Yuanqing" was talking to Xiao Shu, he would also pass by briefly to make his presence known, create evidence that the two of them were present at the same time, and completely separate himself from the identity of "Chu Yuanqing".

Once this is done, no matter how much Xiao Shu imagines, she will never doubt that he is her father.

--Divine Cutting Technique!

Just as Chu Yuanqing felt safe, he couldn't help but cough a few more times.

At the same time, the soft, clinking sound of the lock cylinder turning began.

Before Chu Yuanqing could react, a beautiful, socially awkward, and gloomy young woman had already walked into the restroom on her own.

Tang Liuli's mind went blank. Her emerald green pupils reflected the overwhelming amount of information in the bathroom. In a daze, amidst the thick, bright red paint, she was transported back to the terrifying scene that left a lifelong shadow on her by her mother.

But in the next instant, that person, as if a gift from God, offered salvation, pulling her back from her memories.

The golden light in Chu Yuanqing's eyes resembled the shimmering ripples on Walden Pond. Her white hair, falling down her back, symbolized the first snow on the summit of Tianshan Mountain. Her exquisitely beautiful eyebrows were lowered, and her delicate, pale skin resembled flower petals stained with morning dew.

In that instant, the dazzling allure of this bug-like ability swept away the shadows in my heart, replacing them with profound sorrow and panic.

Because...

The blood droplet on the girl's lips meandered down her chin, as if symbolizing the withering of life, shattering heavily on the tiles, just like a mermaid who had entered a land kingdom and would eventually turn into foam.

Volume 1: Chapter 90. Chu Yuanqing is Magical Girl, Tang Liuli's past. (5K)

Coffee shop, restroom.

The blood, scattered everywhere in a scene of desolation, writhed in the depths of his eyes, forming a picture of purgatory.

That person, overflowing with a sense of brokenness, was as beautiful as a poem, yet so transparent and fragile. She seemed to be in dire need of redemption, coughing up rose-like blood, and looking up at us. Her clear and gentle eyes conveyed complex emotions.

These two extremely conflicting scenes intensely stimulated the stubborn mental illness, continuously rotating and magnifying in the field of vision, merging into black, red and pure white blocks of color, only to be submerged and replaced by the color of that person's pupils.

That is, gilded gold, which is both noble and divine.

The golden tulip, which looked exactly like a crushed piece of porcelain, perfectly represented the Flower Language of her long-standing nightmare.

--Love in despair.

Chu Yuanqing's brilliance brought redemption.

However, this very act of redemption became the trigger for the onset of the illness.

At this moment, fragments of childhood, like film reels, begin to flash back from the depths of my consciousness.

The mother put down the Fairy Tale Book she had just finished reading. Her expression was gentle as she looked at the little girl on the bed, who was drowsy and as lovely as a porcelain doll. She gently brushed the stray hairs from the little girl's forehead and whispered:

"Liuli, do you know?"

"Genuine Liuli requires more than twenty processes, including material selection, mixing, crushing, washing, clay refining, and molding, before it can be fired and become a work of art."

"Mommy loves you, loves you so much, so... you'll fulfill Mommy's expectations too, right?"

Memories then sink deep into the depths.

Tang Liuli's childhood was relatively warm and normal. Even though she officially entered the entertainment industry at the age of 6, which seemed quite tough to outsiders, her family was at least considered exemplary.

Tang Liuli's mother was born in Great Xia. After graduating from university, she traveled abroad and became a renowned sculptor in the industry. Her Dad was from Gloriana. Although he was down on his luck, he was handsome and talented and an ambitious painter.

Both of them enjoyed traveling the world to gather inspiration for their respective fields. They happened to meet and fall in love in a foreign town not far from an active volcano.

Her mother treated her very well, and her Dad was fairly normal as well.

However, since Tang Liuli was ten years old, her talent has been greatly enhanced by taking on roles frequently over the next few years, significantly raising her threshold for empathy. As a result, her spirituality has gradually dimmed, and the atmosphere at home, her parents' attitudes, and the attention of the production crew have all undergone subtle changes.

Although in the eyes of the outside world, Tang Liuli is a true child prodigy.

However, due to a lack of experience and acting skills, her only strengths are natural talent and spirituality. If she does not use her talent to empathize and open the door to "Flow State," the effect will be drastically reduced.

In other words, his condition fluctuated, which slowed down the filming progress on set and sometimes made it difficult for him to meet the director's requirements.

In the mother's eyes, this seemed to mean that there was a problem with the polishing process, and that she needed to personally intervene and correct the error.

At first it was fine; I just patiently taught him.

Then it escalates to passive-aggressive behavior, verbal accusations, delirious mutterings, and exaggerated physical actions.

In the end, she even personally played the supporting role in the film script she received, embodying it in her life and passively allowing Tang Liuli to enter the scene of method acting.

What's both terrifying and horrifying is that her acting skills are superb, as if she stepped right out of the script. She squeezed Tang Liuli's living space to the extreme, forcing her to immerse herself in the role and hone her skills almost every second except for sleep.

If a child resists or makes too many mistakes, they will be met with their mother's disappointed and cold gaze, as well as the punishment of fasting.

"Why can't you even do this?"

"Liuli, Mommy clearly loves you very much."

"This is strange, it shouldn't be like this, where exactly did things go wrong?"

"No, you must be recorded in film history, you must shock the world, you must shine on the world stage, otherwise... otherwise, aren't you just a failure?"

--A failed product.

Tang Liuli will never forget the look on her mother's face when she said those words.

The woman's brows and eyes were so indifferent, her gaze revealing a chilling indifference like an ice pick. Her words, spoken lightly as if in a dream, were so self-assured and matter-of-fact that they pierced deep into the chest like needles.

From then on, my heart would ache with every breath.

However, this nightmare, which lasted for several months, suddenly ended without any warning, just before Tang Liuli's mental state deteriorated and she was on the verge of collapse.

The mother reverted to her old self, breaking free from her delusional state. Filled with guilt and sorrow, she hugged Tang Liuli and wept loudly, repenting and apologizing.

Subsequently, seemingly as compensation, her mother turned down a movie script for her for the first time and took the whole family on a trip around the world.

Those were the happiest times of the girl's life.

No need for exams and studying, no need to worry about disappointing parents, no need to work hard on film sets, no need to force yourself to connect with those complex emotions using your talent.

Tang Liuli can act like a child, relax and immerse herself in the joy of travel, and cast aside the false lives depicted in movies and TV dramas to truly be herself.

This carefree, untouched life seems to have no end.

Her mother took her to all the places she had traveled to before, from the desolate volcanoes resembling the surface of the moon, to the heart of the earth belching blue flames, to Salzburg where Croatian Rhapsody was being played in the streets...

This action was as if he were recounting his life's journey with his daughter.

On the 47th day of her trip, Tang Liuli arrived in Burgundy.

Here, medieval villages dot the landscape, along with vast vineyards and verdant hills dotted with mustard fields. She will spend her 11th birthday in a nearby castle.

Subsequent recollections gradually stalled.

That's a subconscious self-protection mechanism, leaving only rapidly changing flashback scenes.

The sunset paints the fields golden, a birthday cake adorned with candles hangs in the air, the studio is a mess of paint spills, and the father's gaze is filled with a mixture of sadness and expectation...

Then there was Tang Liuli's mother, with whom she had long since reconciled.

She was like the protagonist in a Carmel-Wah play, climbing a ladder to the top of the castle from the highest platform, as if crowned the Sun King in the sunset, or as frenzied as Odin in Norse mythology, hanging herself upside down on the spire as if she had practiced it countless times.

As dusk fell, the ancient castle appeared to be ablaze.

At that time, Tang Liuli was still a child and did not understand the current situation. Her father, who was very excited, kept urging her to imitate her mother.

The talent for empathy was forced to activate, and the threshold reached its peak almost instantly, instantly entering a state of [Flow State].

That woman's terrifying obsession became the fuel for the vortex of idealism, burning wildly in the desolate sunset, causing the interference of [Flow State] to continuously ascend step by step.

Ultimately, her longing, her love, her madness, and her prayers all flowed against the tide, embracing Tang Liuli's soul, to transform into a deep imprint of thought within her consciousness, completing the final stage of this "work of art"...

The memory abruptly ended.

Or perhaps, it was interrupted by strong resistance.

Tang Liuli took a step back, leaning against the coffee-colored doorway, her soft body sliding down until she sat on the ground, almost exhausted.

The girl's soft, black hair was disheveled, her emerald eyes brimming with tears, which fell like broken drops. She stubbornly and sadly pursed her lips, then angrily slammed her hand on the tile, so hard that it drew blood.

"No, I don't want to, I don't want to be you."

"I will never inherit that damned schizophrenia! And I will never become a rotten person like my Dad!"

Then, she curled up in fear, clutching her head, as if talking to herself in a dream:

"I'm not crazy, I'm not a failure, I'm not a prop to complete your art. There will be people who love me, there will be many people who like me, I... I..."

Tang Liuli's voice was drowned out by her animal-like whimpers and sobs. She hugged herself tightly, as if she had never been hugged before. Her fingers gripped the fabric tightly, and she looked so lonely and pitiful, like a kitten curled up in a dark street corner.

Chu Yuanqing was at a loss, looking completely bewildered, but she immediately realized the problem. Overwhelmed with self-blame and guilt, she fell into anxiety.

Tang Liuli suffers from both mental and psychological problems, and the scene she created has undoubtedly triggered her PTSD, which is buried deep within her psyche.

"What to do?"

Chu Yuanqing squatted down next to Tang Liuli. She touched the child's head, but found that the child didn't react at all, as if completely immersed in her own world, or even... entered Flow State .

In this state, the mental instability and the near-collapse of emotions, amplified by the increased contagiousness, permeated the entire restroom, creating a gloomy atmosphere as if dark clouds were gathering.

Chu Yuanqing coughed, blood trickling from her lips. She hugged the girl, who was curled up in a ball, and gently patted her back as if stroking a small animal. She pursed her lips worriedly and said:

"Liuli's [Flow State] ability is imitation and immersion; continuing like this will only lead to an unsolvable vicious cycle."

"I need to find a way to do something positive to break this vicious cycle and help her regain her mental stability."

And that is indeed the case. When that nightmare replays before my eyes, the passively activated "Flow State" state is uncontrollably mimicking the other person, causing the mark left by that woman to revive like a leech, becoming increasingly vivid.

Chu Yuanqing had inadvertently opened Pandora's box in Tang Liuli's mind. Even without knowing the details, Tang Liuli could deduce similar results through her rich experience and keen intuition.

So for a moment, she was filled with a heavy sense of guilt.

What should I do? What kind of behavior would be a positive stimulus in Liuli's mind?

Chu Yuanqing pondered carefully, considering Liuli's earlier self-talk and the changes in her attitude during their first few meetings.

Tang Liuli's mother must be a very complex person, someone she both loves and hates, and most likely the culprit who directly caused the child's psychological trauma.

As the saying goes, the one who tied the knot must untie it.

If the shadow cast on Liuli's face is caused by misguided and distorted maternal love, then wouldn't providing correct and warm maternal love dispel it?

Chu Yuanqing was extremely distressed. She didn't feel that she had any maternal love to share. She could only try to ease the other person's anxiety by hugging her, just like coaxing a child. At the same time, she coughed up blood and stumbled over a bedtime story.

This time, she chose the "Quiet Contemplation" that she hadn't read to the other person last time.

The girl deliberately lowered her voice, which was so gentle it was almost intoxicating, like a soothing nocturne on a rainy night. The Lantern Pendant, reflecting her changing mood, took on a few strands of pure white, amplifying the sacred and inclusive qualities of her personal charm.