Witch Cicada

How impressive!

When the girl bent down, the sight left rather a lot to the imagination.

In his previous life, he had seen countless women, though all of them had been shared by kind souls he wished a lifetime of peace.

As for his practical experience... Xu Le could only say, I have an awful lot of theoretical knowledge.

He managed to shift his gaze to her face.

"Ahem, are you all right now?"

The girl nodded excitedly. Besides a certain delight, there was even a tiny hint of admiration in the way she looked at Xu Le.

"Xu Le, I never imagined you'd become so amazing after just a few years apart."

A few years apart?

Xu Le immediately sensed something was off.

If they hadn't seen each other in years, could she still be his girlfriend? Of course not!

Even if they really were dating, after years apart... he'd probably have enough cuckold's horns to grow a little forest.

"Sorry, things were urgent earlier, so I never got a chance to ask. Miss, who are you? Do we know each other?"

The girl was visibly taken aback and seemed a little upset by his words.

"Xu Le, I'm Wang Man. Have you forgotten?"

"Wang Man?"

Xu Le's memories suddenly reached far into the past. Among those memory fragments, stacked like blocks, there really did seem to be someone named Wang Man.

She had been the original owner's childhood playmate. Before he came to Lighthouse to study, they had lived in the same residential compound.

But the Wang Man in his memories had been incredibly fat, practically 150 centimeters tall and 80 kilos.

She bore absolutely no resemblance to the girl before him.

All right, their features were somewhat similar, but Xu Le would never believe they were the same person.

"Impossible. Absolutely impossible." Xu Le waved his hands.

"Do you think I've gotten prettier? A lot of people say that. And you've become more capable too, Xu Le. You used to be pretty withdrawn."

Xu Le's mouth twitched. If the original owner hadn't died, then yes, he would have been pretty withdrawn.

As he looked at Wang Man, Xu Le's expression grew conflicted.

"Why did you come to Lighthouse? Are you studying here too?"

Wang Man blinked, then shook her head.

"Of course not. I'm a trainee preparing to debut at the Zion Arts Institute. We came to Lighthouse for a performance exchange, and we'll leave in a few days."

A trainee preparing to debut at the Zion Arts Institute? So she'd gone into the arts?

There weren't many celebrities in this era, and the standards for trainees were very high.

Although he couldn't reconcile the Wang Man in his memories with a trainee, the girl before him certainly had what it took.

Xu Le nodded.

"I see. You're leaving in a few days? That's good."

"Huh? Aren't you happy to see me, Xu Le?"

"No, no. I just haven't really gotten anywhere in Lighthouse. Whether meeting an old friend far from home is a happy thing depends on what you've achieved yourself."

Xu Le's expression immediately dimmed.

He didn't want too much contact with Wang Man, especially a childhood friend who had spent more than ten years around him every day.

In some respects, he probably knew less about the original owner than Wang Man did.

The more contact they had, the easier it would be for something to go wrong.

Wang Man opened her mouth, then fell silent too.

Xu Le had been quite frank. Everyone's circumstances and progress were different. They were all adults now, and careless words would only hurt the other person.

"I believe you'll become someone amazing, Xu Le."

Xu Le gave an awkward smile as the students nearby came over.

"Hey, do you need any help?"

Most of them were helpful students who had witnessed Xu Le's fight with the Living Corpse.

They hadn't been able to help during the fight, but now that Xu Le had been lying here for so long, they naturally came to check on him.

Seeing them approach, Xu Le hurriedly waved his hands.

"No, no, it's all taken care of. I'm just sitting here to rest."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

Only after asking several times and confirming that Xu Le really didn't need help did they slowly disperse.

"All right, then. Come find us if you need anything. I'll be in classroom C3."

"I'm in A12."

"I'm in B6."

They each told him their classroom before hurrying away.

Watching their retreating figures, Xu Le smiled faintly.

"Being a good person once in a while is actually pretty nice."

Xu Le picked up the bent iron sword from the ground. Although it was bent out of shape,

it should still be usable if he took it back, pressed it under something heavy, and straightened the bent section.

After all, it was a standard-issue longsword made of refined iron, and expensive by his standards.

Xu Le didn't have a single cent to his name.

He couldn't just toss away a bent sword like some rich kid.

"No, I think people should help each other in the Dark Age. It was because our predecessors did that that humanity has survived to this day."

Wang Man suddenly spoke, her expression earnest. It was clear she genuinely believed it.

Xu Le's mouth twitched. The people around him had such high moral standards that he found it a little hard to adjust.

And when these highly moral people looked at him with admiration, he felt even more uncomfortable.

"Ah, you're right!"

Xu Le looked at the bent sword in his hand, his expression tinged with sorrow.

His only weapon was bent, and he had used one of his two packets of phosphorus fire.

He hadn't found a Gundo Relic or anything else on the Oddity's corpse, either.

All of that was tolerable, really. His biggest loss was losing a girlfriend.

He had thought she was a sweet girl he could pursue, but now she had turned into a childhood friend who knew him inside out.

This one was a total loss.

But Xu Le could only stay silent and pretend to be profound.

What else could he do? Life had to go on.

"Xu Le, where are we going?"

"To a classroom first, like the vice principal told us."

Wang Man chattered nonstop along the way, but Xu Le barely responded.

Most of what Wang Man talked about concerned their childhood.

The original owner's memories of those things were very faint, but her words did let him get a better sense of how Zion had changed.

"Xu Le, why aren't you saying anything?"

"It's nothing. I'm thinking about that Living Corpse."

Xu Le was reviewing the fight and considering whether there had been a better way to handle it. There was no need to hide that from Wang Man.

Even after entering that unusual state of mental clarity, charging straight at the Living Corpse had still carried some risk.

Unless it was necessary, he would be better off avoiding such a reckless way of fighting next time.

But thinking it over, aside from summoning Golden Toad, he didn't seem to have any means of holding his own against Oddities.

The Veteran's Soul had improved his physique a little, but that was far from enough.

He lacked a powerful means of attack.

Even against level 1 Oddities, physical ones like the Living Corpse, he had no good way to deal with them.

His iron sword and phosphorus fire had practically become consumables.

He couldn't keep going like this.

"Ah, if only I had a gun." Xu Le sighed.

Beside him, Wang Man stopped short and suddenly asked,

"Do you need a gun?"

"Do you have one?" Xu Le asked in return.

Wang Man slowly lowered her head.

"No, I don't."

Xu Le stared at her thoughtfully, then nodded.

"Oh."

Then he continued toward the classroom without looking back, while Wang Man followed behind him.

"Hey, Xu Le, wait for me."

The two hurried along, but as they approached the classrooms, there were fewer and fewer students around.

Xu Le felt that something wasn't quite right.

Just as they reached a corner of the teaching building, Xu Le abruptly stopped.

A powerful force followed immediately.

Fortunately, he had already braced himself against the wall and kept himself from taking that step.

Wang Man looked at Xu Le in surprise, unsure why he had stopped here after striding along so briskly.

"Xu Le, what... mmm."

Xu Le turned around and covered Wang Man's mouth.

They were rather close now, with Wang Man almost pressed against Xu Le.

Wang Man frowned slightly, then found herself pinned against the wall by Xu Le.

Her mind couldn't help running wild.

What does Xu Le want to do... Surely he isn't going to do it outside the classrooms? Should I turn him down? If we dated, it would be a long-distance relationship. The company doesn't allow dating. Should we keep it secret?

While Wang Man's head filled with all sorts of scenes from novels, nearly fast-forwarding to marriage,

Xu Le's gaze never left the area beyond the corner.

A Five Heads stood quietly in place.

But it seemed afraid of something inside the teaching building, hunching over in a rather subservient posture.

Xu Le looked toward the teaching building.

Was there some incredibly powerful being inside?

A teacher, perhaps?

It made sense for a school to have some powerful humans around.

After this much time, the school's teachers and Lighthouse's Night Watchers should have noticed something too.

No... If it were a teacher, the Oddity couldn't possibly be this respectful.

Just as that thought crossed Xu Le's mind, he fell utterly silent.

Pure white cicada robes, transparent cicada wings.

An angelic envoy clad in white slowly floated down from above the teaching building.

An arm as white as jade reached out from a sleeve and stroked the Five Heads' head.

Yet that simple gesture made the Five Heads even more reverent.

Although Xu Le couldn't see the figure's face clearly, he was certain of one thing: a human arm shouldn't be that white.

A burning sensation rose from his lower abdomen, and information about the being before him gradually appeared.

[Witch Cicada, level 3 Oddity, Patrol-Class Polluter, Guyinduo.]