Surviving the Aftermath

For the first time, Xia Lin saw an expression of utter horror on the face of the Half-elf, who always carried an air of cold detachment.

That Strange Rat's speed had completely surpassed the limits of any normal creature.

With utterly unreasonable force, it burrowed straight into her instinctively opened mouth.

"No—!"

Xia Lin only had time to let out a hoarse cry.

He wanted to rush over, wanted to do something, but his body seemed frozen solid, unable to move.

Aila's body suddenly stiffened, as if struck by an invisible current.

The next moment, her body arched violently backward in an extremely exaggerated posture, like a powerful bow pulled taut to its limit.

A sound came from her throat, like something had clogged it and was frantically churning inside.

Her hands clawed wildly at her neck, chest, and abdomen. Her sharp nails sank deeply into her own flesh, carving out bloody gashes.

Yet she could not stop what was happening.

Splat—!!!

A duller, more brutal bursting sound than when Bochi's throat had been torn open rang out.

The pitch-black Strange Rat actually burrowed straight out from Aila's lower abdomen, just below her navel.

Its body was completely covered in dripping blood, shattered organs, and sticky bodily fluids. Red-and-white filth clung to its black fur.

It shook its head, flinging bits of flesh and clotted blood onto the floor.

A few drops of warm liquid even splashed onto Xia Lin's stiff, icy face.

And Aila's body was like a rag doll emptied of all its stuffing.

It collapsed softly forward without a sound.

From the Strange Rat's sudden appearance, to Bochi falling dead, to Aila dying miserably on the spot...

The entire process had happened so fast it was suffocating, too fast for anyone to react.

The pitch-black Strange Rat, drenched in blood, slowly, slowly turned its head.

Its tiny, emotionless eyes, like melted rubies, pierced through the light in the room.

Precisely, they locked onto the last living thing in this mage's bedroom.

They locked onto Xia Lin · Tolemo.

The Strange Rat lowered its body slightly. Its slender limbs, smeared with blood and bits of flesh, tensed up, its muscles like compressed springs.

The next second, it seemed ready to pounce on Xia Lin just as it had pounced on Aila.

Xia Lin could even clearly smell the intense, nauseating stench of blood emanating from it.

It's over.

Those were the only two words left in Xia Lin's mind.

Just as Xia Lin was about to close his eyes and wait for the pain of torn flesh to descend—

The Strange Rat stopped moving.

"Come back, Little Tail."

A female voice suddenly rang out in the mage's bedroom.

It was not loud, carrying the tone of someone who had not fully awakened.

Like an impatient cat letting out a long yawn.

Her voice was unexpectedly clear, even somewhat pleasant.

But the detachment and indifference within it, so utterly out of place amid the tragedy that had just occurred, made every hair on Xia Lin's body stand on end.

He sharply turned his stiff neck and looked toward the source of the voice.

At some unknown moment.

In the dim shadows by the bedroom door.

Stood a... small figure.

The figure was exceptionally short, appearing to reach only Xia Lin's waist.

She was shrouded in an oversized purple robe, so disproportionate that it nearly covered her entire body.

Under the Constant Brightness Spell, the robe's fabric had an extraordinary texture, seemingly embroidered with mysterious patterns in silver thread.

Most eye-catching was the equally absurdly oversized pointed hat on her head.

Its brim was pulled very low, veiling her entire face in deep shadow.

Xia Lin strained his eyes wide, but could only barely make out a small lock of silvery-white hair hanging beneath the shadow of her hood.

She simply stood there quietly.

As though she had been standing there for a very long time, yet also as though she had only just condensed from the darkness of nothingness.

"Your anger's spent now, right?"

The lazy female voice sounded again, as calm as if she were commenting on the weather. She seemed to be speaking to the Strange Rat that had just gone on a killing spree.

A horrifying scene unfolded.

The pitch-black Strange Rat, which had been incomparably savage just moments ago, instantly lost its suffocating vicious aura upon hearing that voice, as though it were a popped balloon.

It lightly pushed off with its hind legs and leaped gracefully—almost obediently.

It landed precisely on the shoulder of the mysterious figure in purple.

Using its head, still smeared with Aila's blood and fragments of organs, it affectionately rubbed against the other's broad hat brim, leaving several dark-red stains behind.

The purple-robed figure did not seem to mind in the slightest.

She extended one finger, mostly hidden within her purple sleeve, and casually scratched beneath the Strange Rat's bloodstained chin.

The gesture was utterly natural, as though she were teasing the gentlest, most harmless little pet.

"Be good. Don't make trouble."

The purple-robed figure lowered her head and soothed the "pet" on her shoulder that had just taken two lives, utterly ignoring Xia Lin's presence.

She even began softly humming an off-key lullaby with a strange melody.

The Strange Rat comfortably shifted its posture on her shoulder, curled up, closed its terrifying red eyes, and let out a faint, contented purr.

After quite some time.

The wide purple hat finally lifted slightly.

As though she had finally noticed Xia Lin, standing there like an extraneous background board.

The shadow beneath the brim was as deep as ink. Xia Lin still could not see her face, not even the faintest outline.

But he could clearly feel a gaze fall upon him.

That gaze... was strange.

It held no warmth, no curiosity, no hostility, and not the slightest hint of kindness.

It was like... like someone walking down the road who happened to look down and see an ant crawling across the ground.

They would notice it, but they would not care.

"Ah..."

The purple-robed figure sighed softly. Her voice carried the kind of listlessness that seemed to have settled over countless years.

"Tell me..."

Her voice remained lazy, as flat as if she were asking what to have for dinner.

"Suppose—just suppose—you eagerly return home to visit your family. You open the door, delighted and ready to give them a surprise."

"But then you discover that your parents, brothers, sisters... everyone you know and care about has been murdered in the most brutal way possible."

"Their bodies are piled on the ground, their heads cut off and hung on the wall like trophies..."

She paused, as though considering her wording, or perhaps savoring some scene.

"Tell me, what would you do then?"

The question came out of nowhere, utterly abrupt.

Xia Lin's mind completely shut down.

His mouth hung open, his throat dry and aching as if scraped with sandpaper, but he could not make a single meaningful sound.

He could only stare blankly at the mysterious purple-robed figure enveloped in shadow, at the Little Tail on her shoulder that was dozing off despite having just drunk blood and devoured flesh.

Fear, confusion, absurdity... all kinds of emotions tangled in his mind like a mess of threads, leaving him unable to think, much less answer such an inexplicable question.

The purple-robed figure did not seem to expect an answer from him.

She tilted her head to one side. The shadow beneath her brim swayed with it, twisting like some living thing.

"Hmm... it really is a troublesome question, isn't it?"

She seemed to be talking to herself, or perhaps to the Strange Rat on her shoulder.

"Anger? Revenge? Despair? None of those quite fit."

"Forget it." She seemed to quickly lose interest in the boring topic, tossing it aside like an uninteresting toy. "There's no point thinking about it anyway."

At last, that gaze, as though examining a specimen, focused on Xia Lin again.

"You." She paused. "You're lucky."

She extended that finger hidden within her sleeve and casually pointed at the Strange Rat on her shoulder, which had begun to snore faintly.

"My baby was just a little emotionally unstable earlier."

She said it in the relaxed tone of someone talking about their child throwing a tantrum.

"Now it's calmed down."

"So," the shadow beneath her brim seemed to shift slightly, as though she were smiling, "you can still stand there."

Xia Lin still could not move, but his body began trembling violently beyond his control.

This time, it was not merely because of the bone-deep terror, but also because of the humiliation forcibly suppressed within his chest.

The purple-robed figure seemed somewhat impatient with his reaction and let out a soft click of her tongue.

"That's enough."

As if performing a magic trick, she casually pulled a small but rather thick burlap bag from her wide sleeve and weighed it in her hand.

Then, as though tossing away a worthless piece of trash, she casually threw it onto the floor stained with Bochi's blood.

Clink!

The cloth bag hit the hard floor, producing the sound of metal striking metal.

"Take it."

The purple-robed figure's voice carried a lofty indifference, like alms being bestowed.

"This should be enough for you to find a decent place and take care of these two."

After saying that, she seemed to feel that communicating with this "ant" that had happened not to be stepped on had lost all meaning.

The space before the purple-robed figure suddenly twisted.

Like a stone dropped into still water, it sent out rings of invisible ripples.

Then, an irregular rift opened out of thin air.

Holding the sleeping Strange Rat, the purple-robed figure stepped into that pitch-black rift without the slightest hesitation.

The instant her figure vanished, the dark rift quickly closed and contracted.

This ancient mage's bedroom returned to dead silence once more.

Only two corpses, gradually losing their warmth, the small cloth bag lying quietly in the cold pool of blood, and...

Xia Lin · Tolemo, standing there all alone.