Looking over at the girl beside him, Lin Chen, still shaken himself...
...also felt his heartbeat quicken for some inexplicable reason.
He couldn't help it. March 7th was pressed far too close to him.
Her soft, cherry-blossom-colored hair fell against his neck, sending a tingling sensation through him.
Her warm breath, fragrant as an orchid in a secluded valley, brushed against his thin T-shirt.
March 7th had her arms spread around him, hugging him tightly from the side.
Of course... the most lethal part was...
...the full, rounded snowy peaks beneath her white shirt, their deep cleavage enveloping his arm.
That warm, soft, tantalizing sensation was truly beyond words.
I underestimated March 7th's size. She's a lot bigger than I imagined...
With his inner pervert fully awakened, this close encounter...
...gave Lin Chen a whole new appreciation for March 7th's figure and charm.
A giant in theory but a hobbit in practice...
...Lin Chen had never been this physically close to a girl before.
And... it was a real beauty like March 7th, every bit as stunning as his anime waifus.
"It's okay... it's all over!"
"You were amazing, March 7th. You completely defeated that ghost..."
He reached out with his broad hand and gently stroked the top of her head.
Departing from his usual manner, Lin Chen comforted March 7th in the gentlest voice he could manage.
He and March 7th had always been like a pair of bickering rivals.
But now, seeing the girl with shimmering moisture in her pink-and-blue eyes...
...Lin Chen felt his heart tighten with an inexplicable tenderness.
He might have been easygoing and careless, but he couldn't bear seeing a girl look like that.
"R-really?"
She slowly lifted her head, her lovely, ethereal face turned toward him.
The mist clouding her beautiful eyes, shimmering with the colors of a galaxy, had already condensed into glistening tears.
Like pearls spilling from a broken string, they streamed down her smooth cheeks.
"That's right..."
"Don't be afraid. It's all over."
"That ghost in red is dead as dead can be!"
The corners of Lin Chen's lips lifted slightly into a calm smile.
He still didn't know what substance made up that dazzling forest of ice crystals.
But judging by its overwhelming presence and sheer spectacle...
...Lin Chen figured...
...the female ghost in red, who seemed to have little going for her besides a frightening appearance, was probably finished.
"Hehehe!"
"Beautiful dress... become one..."
Yet the very next moment, a distant, sinister female voice rang out nearby.
It proved Lin Chen wrong at lightning speed.
At the edge of the ice-crystal forest, a strip of bright red fabric...
...seemed to be pulled by some unseen force, squeezing out through a gap between the crystals.
"Lin Chen... I'm so scared..."
Hearing that nightmarish voice, the girl with glistening tear tracks still on her face...
...buried her head even deeper against Lin Chen's chest.
Clearly, March 7th was utterly terrified by now.
She didn't even dare turn around to look at that eerie red dress again.
At this point, the beautiful March 7th, self-proclaimed warrior of the Astral Express...
...could no longer worry about saving face.
For once, she revealed a vulnerable side that Lin Chen had never seen before.
"It's okay. You've still got me, haven't you?"
"Wait here a moment. I'll deal with that ghost!"
"But... you're just an ordinary person!"
"Don't worry. I have a way."
He reached out with his broad hand and gently patted March 7th's back.
Taking a deep breath, Lin Chen turned and walked toward the end of the dark corridor.
The sight of March 7th's tear-streaked face...
...had stirred Lin Chen's protective instincts.
Besides, after that clash just now...
...the female ghost in red seemed to be temporarily trapped inside the ice-crystal forest.
That gave him an opening to use the item he had.
It was a little risky.
He wasn't sure whether that eerie thing might suddenly dart out.
Still, Lin Chen decided to give it a try.
"System storage, retrieve item-Portable Containment Device!"
At a mental command, a dazzling white light flashed.
As Lin Chen walked toward the ice-crystal forest, an object resembling a lantern appeared in his hand.
Inside its translucent casing...
...millions of strings of parameter text...
...lit up the little world within, like fireflies suspended beneath a starry night sky.
A technological creation? A magical instrument?
Perhaps it was both.
With the containment device in hand, Lin Chen could tell that it was extraordinarily intricate.
Behind him, March 7th, still somewhat shaken...
...watched Lin Chen move farther and farther away out of the corner of her eye.
An unusual mixture of emotions seemed to spread through her beautiful pink-and-blue eyes.
At that moment, March 7th suddenly felt truly weak.
She actually needed Lin Chen, an ordinary person, to stand in front of her.
Yet along with that, an inexplicable warmth surged through her heart.
It left March 7th feeling touched and reassured.
"Heh, can't get out, can you?"
"Weren't you acting pretty cocky just now?"
"You wandered past my cabin door several times. Was that fun?"
Reaching the ice-crystal forest, Lin Chen looked at the eerie red dress, which had barely squeezed a small portion of itself out.
Suddenly, he wasn't quite so afraid anymore.
It seemed March 7th's skill had directly destroyed the female ghost's form outside the red dress.
The thing before him was really nothing more than a haunted object.
"You... are not the one I seek."
"Only the finest woman in the world deserves to serve as my vessel."
"Why don't we make a deal?"
"If you offer me that girl from earlier, I'll give you all my power!"
The sinister female voice coming from the red dress no longer sounded as shrill as before.
Instead, it actually sounded rather sincere.
"Tell me, what abilities do you have?"
The corners of Lin Chen's lips lifted slightly into an amused smile.
Speaking to a restrained uncanny entity at close range, he no longer felt afraid.
He actually found it rather interesting.
Perhaps he would have plenty of opportunities to deal with these ghostly things in the future.
This time, he might as well get some practice in advance.
"I have the ability to briefly hypnotize living beings."
"With my help, you could do all sorts of bad things. You know what I mean..."
The still-struggling red dress immediately answered Lin Chen's question.
Lin Chen vaguely felt a faint wave of dizziness.
It seemed the uncanny red dress before him had exerted some sort of mental influence on him.
[Minor mental interference detected. Current resistance rate: 97.8%.] [Host, please remain vigilant. Do not allow your sanity to fall below the safe range.]
"That's it?"
"Then you can give it a rest..."
"Forcing someone isn't satisfying. I prefer the thrill of conquering everything."
"And you're nowhere near qualified to play tricks on me!"
As he spoke, the smile on Lin Chen's face grew increasingly unrestrained.
Well, damn. This ghostly thing is pretty crafty.
Trying to stall for time, then catch me off guard?
Not a chance!
"Uncanny containment! Activate!"
As Lin Chen's words rang out, the lantern in his hand erupted with an extraordinarily dazzling green light.
A moment later, when the ethereal aurora faded...
...the blood-red dress inside the transparent containment device showed no sign of moving again.
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