Is This an Asura Field?

"Ling Ying, Ling Ying, wake up..."

"...Five more minutes..."

"Don't sleep anymore. You'll be late for class. They'll mark you absent."

"Mmm..."

Ling Ying reluctantly opened her eyes. Before her were the familiar faces of her three roommates. Ah, this scene somehow felt strangely familiar.

"Ah, ah, she's awake, she's awake."

The three roommates smiled at Ling Ying, then spoke in unison.

"Welcome back. We've been waiting for you for a long time."

"?"

As their words fell, the surroundings abruptly changed. The cozy dormitory vanished, replaced by a dim space woven from darkness and ash-gray hues. Her adorable roommates had turned into twisted Shadow Monsters, writhing as they displayed their vicious claws and fangs.

"Ah!"

Ling Ying bolted upright in bed. She sat there blankly for a long while before finally coming back to her senses, reaching up to wipe the cold sweat that did not exist from her forehead.

"Ah, it was just a dream."

Ling Ying rubbed her temples, inwardly mocking herself for still being frightened by nightmares despite being the kind of person she was.

"...Hiss... That hurts. What is that...?"

Just as she had begun to calm down, a sudden stabbing pain in her shoulder and neck made Ling Ying tense up again. She flung off the covers and leapt out of bed, then stood before the full-length mirror. Ling Ying quickly noticed something unusual about her body. A strange black mark had appeared on her neck at some point. It was hard to describe exactly what it was; if she had to, it looked like a tangled, twisted mass of... tentacles. At the center of the tentacles was a pattern resembling an eye. The combination had absolutely nothing to do with beauty—in fact, it was a little disgusting. Worse still, the mark covered quite a large area. Nearly half of Ling Ying's neck was covered by it. To hide it, she figured she would have to wear clothes that exposed nothing but her head.

Ling Ying stared at the mark for a long time before finally gathering the courage to reach out and touch it. Her fingers met her skin without any issue. The mark seemed to be a part of her body rather than some foreign object.

"Damn it, what the hell is this?"

After agonizing in front of the mirror for quite some time with no change in the mark, Ling Ying decided to set the matter aside for now. Whether she wanted it or not, it had already grown on her body. Compared to something she could neither understand nor do anything about, Ling Ying wanted to fill her stomach first.

Leaving her room, Ling Ying headed straight into the spacious living room, where she found a neatly written note on the coffee table. It was undoubtedly left for her by the owner of the house, Ezreal.

"Miss Lilia, I need to make a trip to the Mercury District today. Professor Leslie has something important to discuss with me. I probably won't return until tonight. If you are hungry and want something to eat, there is frozen bread and milk in the refrigerator. You can heat the bread in the toaster. If you would like to go out for a walk, there is some money in the bag beside it. Please help yourself; there is no need to be polite. Also, Captain Barbossa of the Silver Dawn has learned that you are safe and will be visiting in the near future."

After reading the note, Ling Ying looked at the household appliances in the living room, each of which had been thoughtfully labeled with explanatory notes. Even someone who had been single for twenty years like her could not help but smile. So this was what a dependable young man was like? She loved it. Wait, did this count as being kept? No matter how she looked at it, it sure seemed like it. Ezreal did not even need sweet talk—he could "casually" pick up a girl and bring her home. If this were some Japanese-style game, he would practically be the standard template for a harem protagonist.

Unfortunately, this was not one. Ling Ying softly hummed a tune as she took milk and bread from the refrigerator. After studying it for a bit, she successfully started the otherworld version of a toaster. Returning to a modern lifestyle seemed to have put her in a good mood. She had even forgotten all about that troublesome mark. A few minutes later, Ling Ying sat at the table, just about to enjoy the fragrant, golden-brown toast when a crisp doorbell suddenly rang.

"At this hour? Who could it be? A delivery person, someone checking the water meter, or an insurance salesperson?"

With all sorts of strange thoughts running through her mind, Ling Ying opened the door. Before she could even see the visitor's face, a figure crashed into her arms like a cannonball.

"Brother Ezreal! You're finally back! I missed you so much!"

Accompanied by words that were somewhat nauseatingly sweet, the figure rubbed herself against Ling Ying's chest. But she quickly froze, then looked up in confusion. She seemed to have realized that the Brother Ezreal in her mind should not have a chest with such a soft touch. Taking the opportunity, Ling Ying sized up the woman before her. Hmm, an oval face that could barely be called delicate, though the makeup was excessively heavy. She wore an exquisite long dress commonly seen on wealthy families in Piltover, adorned with jewels of every color. Coupled with the strong scent of perfume, she looked every bit the spoiled daughter of a rich family.

The two stared at each other for several seconds. Then the young woman's expression suddenly turned ugly, her voice becoming shrill like that of a startled cat.

"Who are you?! Why are you in Brother Ezreal's house?!"

"..."

The barrage of questions caught Ling Ying off guard for a moment, and the wonderful mood she had woken up with was immediately shouted into the clouds by the other woman. What followed was a trace of impatience and irritation. Just as Ling Ying was about to shut the door in the woman's face, she suddenly noticed the way the woman addressed him.

"Brother Ezreal... Wow..."

In an instant, Ling Ying imagined a whole string of scenes. No way, was this a girl devoted to one man who had mustered the courage to visit the home of the boy she liked, only for the door to be opened by some seductive, wicked woman...

"No, what kind of nonsense am I thinking?"

Ling Ying shook her head, driving away those bizarre déjà vu sensations, then looked at the woman again. The other woman was clearly growing angrier because of her silence. Ah, in that case, why not have a little fun with her?

"He isn't here."

Ling Ying deliberately slowed her speech, leaning sideways against the doorframe with a languid smile.

"Is there something you need?"

It had to be said that with Ling Ying's current looks, that pose was explosively alluring. The two men behind the woman, who looked like bodyguards, stared straight at her. As for the woman herself, after a moment of stunned silence, her face instantly flushed as red as a monkey's backside.

"Y-you-you-you-you..."

She repeated "you" several times, as if the word were burning her tongue.

"Who exactly are you?!"

"Ah, me?"

Ling Ying played with a lock of hair hanging down by her fingers. Only when the woman looked ready to explode did she drawl out her answer.

"I'm his relative."

"You're lying! Brother Ezreal doesn't have any relatives besides an uncle!"

"Oh, is that so? Then I'm a distant relative."

"You're lying! I don't believe you! Fine, I get it now. You must be some vixen who seduced Brother Ezreal, right? Today, I'm going to..."

Bang!

Ling Ying finally lost a little patience with the other woman's vile attitude and shut that furious face outside the door. She took a deep breath to calm herself. Why couldn't these so-called nobles ever speak properly? Even when asking a question, they had to act so arrogantly, as if the whole world owed them money.

"Hey! Open the door! If you've got the nerve to steal a man, then you've got the nerve to open the door! What kind of person hides inside?!"

The woman outside was still raging. Listening to the pounding on the door, Ling Ying's hand hurt for her.

"If you don't come out, I'm breaking the door down!!"

"Go ahead. It's Brother Ezreal's door anyway."

"..."

Ling Ying's offhand remark unexpectedly worked. The woman seemed to give up on fighting the door and instead spat out a furious threat.

"Just you wait!! Go against me, and you'll pay for it!!"

Fine, she would wait. Did Ling Ying look like she was afraid? Still, she hadn't expected the day to pass just like that, with everything seemingly calm and peaceful—aside from Ezreal returning with a face like he'd swallowed something bitter.

"Don't you have anything to say?"

Ling Ying brought it up to Ezreal at the dinner table, but he only looked at her before shaking his head with a wry smile.

"The one you drove away earlier was the Midalda Family's daughter. Sophie Midalda."

"Ah, of course, I'm not blaming you."

Seeming to realize that his words might be misunderstood, Ezreal hurriedly explained.

"To be honest, I hate that self-important Young Lady too. But if you want to survive in Piltover, there are several major families you absolutely cannot offend. The Midalda Family is one of them. They've practically monopolized Piltover's biotechnology industry, and their power and influence are enormous. Jaggu Midalda, the family head, had a daughter late in life and dotes on her beyond measure. So that Young Lady has never suffered much hardship since birth. If she likes something, she has to have it. Then came my bad luck. Some damn person showed her those novelists' embellished adventure stories about me. And that was the end of it for me. She comes looking for me every few days. Yet I don't dare offend her. As far as I know, you're probably the first person who dared stand up to her and even make her suffer a setback. If word of this gets out, I'm afraid quite a few people will applaud you."

The last sentence was obviously a joke. Ling Ying felt that if the matter spread throughout the city, that Young Lady would probably never rest until she was dead. Of course, something like this wasn't enough to make her worry. But she disliked trouble, especially causing trouble for others because of herself.

"I'll move out as soon as I can in the next couple of days."

"Huh? But..."

"There's no but."

Ling Ying quickly finished the last sip of thick soup, wiped her mouth, and said, "With that woman's awful temper, dealing with her must be difficult enough for you, right? Having me stay here isn't good for you. Besides, when the captain of the Silver Dawn came yesterday, he gave me quite a few silver wheels. I think it'll be enough to support me for quite a long time. And anyway, I didn't come to Piltover just to live off others."

"..."

Ezreal seemed to want to say something else, but the resolute look on Ling Ying's face made him stop himself.

"I'm sorry, Miss Lilia. If there's anything you need help with, make sure to tell me."

"I will."