"You pervert! Were you planning to take her underwear too?!"
Ling roared viciously in Fang Ran's mind, looking down on his womenswear antics from the moral high ground.
"Oh, oh, oh!"
Fang Ran hurriedly answered and prepared to put down Xia Yao's clothes, but before he could let go, he suddenly realized a serious problem.
Damn!
If he put them down, what was he supposed to wear?!
"Are you an idiot?! You changed your appearance, so can't you conjure up some clothes?! You really are a pervert!"
Ling's exasperated roar echoed through Fang Ran's mind.
Tears streamed down Fang Ran's face. Right, I'd changed my appearance already, so why couldn't I conjure a set of clothes?!
Sighing inwardly, he casually tossed aside Xia Yao's sexy black lace lingerie and closed his eyes, avoiding the sight of anything he should not see.
"Huh? Why aren't you wearing—"
Xia Yao looked curiously at the silver-haired girl before trailing off. Then she saw something that stopped her breathing for an instant.
A golden rectangular glow dispersed into motes of light in the hands of the silver-haired girl called "The Float." A circular vortex rose beneath her feet, wrapping around her body like a gust of wind. When the swirling wind faded, clothes had already appeared on her body.
The same clothes Xia Yao was wearing.
Xia Yao parted her lips slightly. She was stunned for a moment, blinking as she stared at the unbelievable sight.
Then she heard the girl before her sigh softly.
"Good thing it isn't a skirt."
"You..."
Xia Yao looked at her, suddenly unsure of what to say.
"Uh..."
Then she saw the silver-haired girl casually scratch her head. She looked both troubled and relieved, as though she had no idea how to explain herself.
"Well... don't be surprised. You... just treat it like a dream."
"A dream?"
Xia Yao muttered in disbelief, her expression dazed. Then, as though she had thought of something, she pressed her lips tightly together and staggered a step back.
"Let's go. I'll erase her memories of tonight, and then I'll settle accounts with you when we get home!"
Ling's voice rang out in Fang Ran's mind. His face immediately fell. He opened the door and prepared to leave, but when he casually turned his head—
He saw Xia Yao still watching him, her eyes carrying an indescribable emotion. It seemed like...
Longing.
As though possessed, Fang Ran stopped, turned around, and sighed.
"I can grant you one wish, but it has to be a very small one."
At that, Ling immediately frowned and asked in his mind,
"What are you up to now?"
But when Xia Yao heard those words, a brilliant light immediately burst into her eyes. She hesitantly took a step forward, and even she found the scene before her absurd and unreal.
Yet something in her heart made her voice an impractical hope.
Like a girl making a wish to an unknown witch.
"Then, The Float, can you..."
Her voice trembled. Even Xia Yao felt that this was unbelievably like a fairy tale. She had only been practicing dance as usual today, so why had things suddenly become like this?
She forced a smile, even though she herself knew it was impossible, and said something she found incomparably absurd.
"Let me see my mother one more time?"
After saying that, Xia Yao's tall figure somehow looked lonely. Her hands clenched tightly.
Was this a dream?
Was she dreaming?
With a heart-wrenching hope in her eyes, Xia Yao stared at the silver-haired girl before her.
Well, she wouldn't remember any of this afterward anyway.
"That barely counts as being within the range of 'very small.'"
Fang Ran drew the Shadow Card and the Illusion Card, then used magic. The two cards flew out, and after seeing the magic take effect, he walked out and gently closed the door behind him.
Leaving Xia Yao standing there blankly.
Suddenly, she sensed someone behind her. Trembling with anticipation, she turned around, terrified that her hope would be shattered.
The person behind her looked exactly as she had ten years ago.
Bitterness welled up. Tears, longing, grievance, and reluctance.
They all surged into Xia Yao's heart at once. She cried like a child, wanting to embrace the woman she could now only see in photographs.
The woman who had washed her clothes and cooked for her, combed her hair and washed her face, and taken her into the Dance Studio.
She cried out the word that had once been so familiar, yet had not passed her lips in ten years.
"Mom!!!"
"Mom!"
"Mom!!"
Xia Yao called out again and again, as if afraid, as if trying to make up for lost time. The woman smiled gently at her and reached out to stroke her hair. Xia Yao tried to reach back, but before she could realize that the phantom before her could not be touched, telekinesis struck her, and she fainted.
A faint light flickered as Ling slowly floated down. She watched Xia Yao's mother's phantom gradually disperse into two cards, chasing out through the window.
In the data space, she rubbed her temples in annoyance and muttered helplessly,
"Honestly, that bastard had to do something so unnecessary. How am I supposed to do this now..."
He always had this unnecessary emotional insight in the most unnecessary moments.
I thought he was just a carefree idiot.
Ling draped piece after piece of clothing over Xia Yao, thoughtfully used telekinesis to seal the broken window, locked the door from the inside, and ensured the room would be safe when Xia Yao woke up.
Ling flew outside, suddenly feeling irritated. Something from a small village in Europe a century ago faintly surfaced in her memory.
But before she could feel melancholy for long, Ling suddenly realized—
Where had Fang Ran gone?!
Ling was so angry that all her previous emotions vanished. She chased after him and shouted directly in Fang Ran's mind,
"Fang Ran, you bastard!! We haven't settled what happened earlier! Where do you think you're running off to?!"
Someone who had been frantically fleeing on The Float, intending to spend the night in the dorms to avoid the storm, immediately fell from midair.
"Kneel!"
In Fang Ran's rented apartment, Ling shouted!
Fang Ran immediately knelt obediently on the bed, looking like he was saying, "I admit my mistake, please be lenient."
"Tell me! Exactly! What! Happened! With Night Raven?! What the hell did you do to provoke so many people all at once?!"
Ling gritted out every word as she questioned Fang Ran!
"Uh, well... um... that... so..."
Fang Ran stammered incoherently.
"Stop stammering! Tell me!" Ling pressed viciously.
"Well... can I not say?"
Fang Ran widened his eyes, doing his best to look cute.
It wasn't that Fang Ran wanted to act cute, it was just that—
He really couldn't say it!!
"Debts must be repaid, and murder... must be paid for with a life!"
"You! None of you will escape!!"
"Ordinary people! Can go insane too!!!!"
With a cold expression of vengeance, dressed in black, he had flown through the night, hunting people all over the city to avenge someone who was not even dead.
Such an explosively embarrassing, cringe-worthy experience.
How could I possibly say it out loud?!
I thought I'd already outgrown my edgy phase. Turns out that was all just my fucking delusion!
"What do you think?"
Ling's voice became incomparably sinister and terrifying. Fang Ran immediately felt that the Power Bank before him had transformed into a monster with gaping bloody jaws!
The clever Fang Ran felt that at a time like this, he had to save himself!
He needed something to divert his enraged Summoned Beast's attention!
Suddenly, inspiration struck Fang Ran!
Right! Hadn't he obtained a piece of equipment?!
Thinking of that, Fang Ran hurriedly summoned the interface and smiled ingratiatingly at Ling, as though presenting a treasure to an empress.
"Right! I actually won, look, I even got a piece of equipment!"
With that, Fang Ran hurriedly opened the interface. Six slots stood out on the pale blue system interface, and within the second slot rested a deep-black long coat. Fang Ran tapped it with his finger, and the name of the night device immediately popped up.
Night Device ZXC9-A—Night's Pilgrimage of Thought and Memory upon the God King's Shoulder
Damn it, huh? Wasn't it called Night Raven?
Fang Ran was still wondering why the name had changed when he realized that his goal seemed to have been achieved. The Power Bank had successfully calmed down.
But because of the Power Bank, Fang Ran could not see Ling's expression.
Because—
In the data space, Ling's expression
Slowly froze.
After finally surviving three days of classes from morning to night, the author looked at the falling bookmarks and frozen comment section and sighed.
There'll be another chapter later.
Since I've been working so hard, could you give me a round of bookmarks, reviews, chapter comments, and tips? A four-hit combo? (Snicker)
Before you continue