After that "accident" during the birthday video call with his mom, even the air at home seemed to have turned sweet.
The 99.1% affection rating was like a treasure chest radiating an enticing glow, within arm's reach, missing only the final key.
Luo Li felt a spring in his step. Even when cultivating the [Remembrance] Path, he found his mental energy flowing more smoothly.
He watched Castorice diligently pecking away at the keyboard with two fingers every day, working on her great fanfiction masterpiece. He watched the corners of her mouth lift slightly whenever she typed a complicated sentence, watched those violet eyes quickly dart away with a shy smile whenever they happened to meet his... The desire in his heart to take their relationship further grew wildly, like weeds in spring.
It was time!
He decided to plan a proper date, one filled with a sense of occasion.
After careful consideration, he finally settled on Jiangcheng's largest amusement park-the Star Rail Amusement Park.
Supposedly, its enormous Ferris wheel could briefly rise through the Blood-Erosion Clouds at its highest point, offering a view of the stars that looked especially hazy and dreamlike through that filter.
It was the perfect place for a confession!
"Castorice..."
After dinner that day, Luo Li brought it up with feigned casualness. "Tomorrow's the weekend. Do you want to... go to an amusement park?"
"An amusement park?"
Castorice set down her glass of water, a flicker of curiosity crossing her violet eyes.
She had seen the term on her tablet and knew it was a place full of laughter and thrills.
"Yeah, there are lots of fun rides, like carousels, roller coasters, and... a Ferris wheel where you can see the stars."
Luo Li tried hard to sound natural, but the slight gleam in his eyes still betrayed his anticipation.
Castorice looked at him and nodded gently with almost no hesitation, her lips curving into a soft smile. "Sure."
Success! Luo Li cheered inwardly.
The next day, Luo Li dug out his most presentable jacket, while Castorice put on her cream-colored dress and amethyst hair clip, and they set off in high spirits.
To experience the everyday life of an "ordinary couple," they chose to take the subway.
The subway station was packed with weekend crowds, a jumble of smells and noise.
Luo Li carefully shielded Castorice in front of him, using his body to keep the jostling crowds away.
Castorice seemed a little nervous. Her small hand unconsciously clutched the hem of Luo Li's jacket, her violet eyes surveying the unfamiliar, crowded surroundings with curiosity and a hint of unease.
Sensing her reliance on him, Luo Li felt a powerful urge to protect her and reassured her quietly, "Don't be afraid. Just stay with me."
They finally squeezed onto the subway, only to find the carriage even more tightly packed.
Luo Li worked to give Castorice a small pocket of relatively open space so she could lean against the partition at the junction between carriages.
Just then, a shrill female voice abruptly rang out, breaking through the carriage's relatively steady hubbub:
"Hey! Are you blind? You stepped on my shoe!"
Luo Li looked toward the voice and saw a stylish young woman diagonally across from him, wearing a Lolita dress and heavy makeup. Her brows were raised in anger as she harshly berated a thin boy with glasses who looked like a high school student.
The boy's face instantly flushed bright red, and he stammered repeated apologies. "S-sorry! I didn't mean to. The train jolted just now..."
"What good is sorry? These are limited-edition 'Tears of the Stars'! Could you afford to pay for them if you ruined them?!"
The woman in the Lolita dress refused to let it go, her voice growing increasingly shrill and drawing quite a few looks.
She took out her phone, seemingly intending to take pictures. "Guys, can you believe this? I've had the worst fucking luck today! Ran into such a creep!"
The boy grew even more flustered and looked on the verge of tears.
Some people nearby murmured among themselves, but most preferred to avoid trouble, and no one stepped forward.
Luo Li frowned, put off by how she refused to relent even after being wronged, but he did not want any complications. He merely shifted Castorice farther behind him.
However, it did not end there.
The woman in the Lolita dress put away her phone, still cursing, and swept her gaze around the carriage as though searching for a new "target."
Her gaze passed over Luo Li. When she saw Castorice behind him, whose stunning beauty and striking presence could not be concealed even by a mask, an unmistakable flash of jealousy and... malice crossed her eyes.
She deliberately squeezed closer to Luo Li and the others, then spoke to her companion in a snide voice, just loud enough for those nearby to hear. "Tsk, some women these days look respectable enough, but all they do outside is hide behind men. Think they're princesses? Probably just a green tea bitch who seduces men into being her bodyguards."
Her companion immediately agreed. "Exactly! You can tell she's only pretending to be innocent. Who knows how much she sleeps around in private!"
The indirect attack was far too obvious.
Luo Li's expression instantly darkened.
He could tolerate people making comments about him, but he would never tolerate anyone insulting Castorice with such vicious language.
He was about to speak when he felt Castorice gently take hold of his arm from behind.
Castorice stepped half a pace forward and stood beside Luo Li.
Although she was still unaccustomed to such malicious confrontations, there was no fear in her violet eyes, only a pure, untainted composure.
She looked at the woman in the Lolita dress, her voice ethereal and clear, carrying a trace of puzzlement and earnestness. "Madam, why would you utter such... malicious words?
"I am traveling with Luo Li. He protects me out of kindness and courtesy.
"What does that have to do with 'seduction' or being a 'green tea bitch'? Please retract those false statements and apologize to us."
Her choice of words still bore the elegance of Amphoreus, but the firmness in her tone left no room for doubt.
The woman in the Lolita dress clearly had not expected this seemingly delicate girl to step forward and challenge her directly, let alone with such... old-fashioned language.
She froze for a moment, then bristled even more like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. "Oh, please! Still putting on an act? An apology? Apologize, my fucking ass! Was I wrong? Look at you, you slut! Wearing a mask to act all mysterious-who knows how ugly you are underneath! And that guy beside you looks like a total loser! Birds of a feather!"
Obscenities poured out like filthy water, unbearable to hear.
Some people nearby frowned, but more simply watched the spectacle.
Luo Li's fists clenched abruptly, veins bulging at his temples.
Rage churned like magma in his chest, nearly bursting through the levees of his reason.
He had never despised anyone so much.
And when Castorice heard the woman insult Luo Li like that, clearly visible anger flared for the first time in her usually tranquil violet eyes.
She could tolerate others speaking ill of her, but she would never allow anyone to slander Luo Li.
"Shut your mouth!" Castorice's voice rose slightly with agitation, carrying a rare sharpness.
"Luo Li is nothing like you say! He's a thousand, ten thousand times better than someone like you, who does nothing but attack others with vicious words!"
She tried to counter with reason and facts, but against someone with no limits who relied entirely on making a scene, her good manners instead seemed somewhat powerless.
Seeing Castorice angry only made the woman in the Lolita dress more smug. Her abuse escalated, and she even began inventing things that had never happened, her voice growing louder and louder as she drew the entire carriage's attention.
"(╬◣д◢) I'm so mad! So mad! Master! That awful woman! How dare she say that about you and the pretty lady! Teach her a lesson!"
Xiao Hong stamped her feet in fury inside the mental space.
Luo Li looked at Castorice's eyes, slightly reddened with anger and hurt, and at her anxious expression as she tried so hard to defend him with so little success. The thread called "reason" inside him snapped completely.
If he could no longer endure it, there was no need to!
Since this world's conventional methods could not deal with this little fairy, he would use something... unconventional.
He took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the urge to silence her physically.
A more "civilized," yet more punishing idea surfaced in his mind.
[Remembrance Weaving]... and the subtle effect on "time perception" within the power of [Finality] he had only begun to touch...
The idea for a perfect combination technique took shape in an instant.
He stepped forward and gently pulled Castorice, who was still trying to reason with her, behind him, giving her a reassuring look that said, "Leave this to me."
Then he turned toward the woman in the Lolita dress, who was still spraying spittle with a smug expression, and gave her an exceedingly calm smile that even held a trace of pity.
"Are you finished?" His voice was quiet, yet it strangely cut through her shouting.
The woman in the Lolita dress was taken aback by his sudden calm, then grew even more arrogant. "What? The loser wants to play hero? Let me tell you, I-"
She never finished.
For at that moment, an exceedingly faint darkness quietly veiled Luo Li's eyes, as though capable of swallowing all light.
[Remembrance Weaving] activated at full power-blended with a trace of [Finality]'s power to distort time perception!
Target locked-the mental world of the little fairy before him!
Humm-
An invisible, intangible, yet immense surge of mental energy enveloped the woman in the Lolita dress in an instant, like an unseen net.
In her own perception, the noisy subway, the crowded passengers, and Luo Li and Castorice all blurred and vanished in an instant, like a fading oil painting...
In their place appeared a world she knew all too well, yet one filled with absolute terror.
(Inside her mental world)
She found herself surrounded by countless mirrors, each reflecting her own face-but countless invisible hands were tearing and clawing at that face, turning it into a hideous, mangled mass of flesh!
She screamed in terror, only to discover that those versions of "herself" in the mirrors also opened their gaping, blood-red mouths, unleashing even more piercing curses calling her an "ugly freak," a "shrew," and "someone nobody wanted."
The voices overlapped, pouring into her ears like a demonic chorus without end!
She wanted to flee, but found a viscous, foul-smelling swamp beneath her feet. Countless pale hands reached out of it, clamped around her ankles, and dragged her inch by inch toward the abyss.
She struggled desperately and cried for help, but there was no response, only those shattered versions of herself in the mirrors staring fixedly at her with venomous eyes!
Time seemed to stretch without limit.
She felt as though she had struggled for days and nights in this horrific hell filled with self-loathing and accusations from others.
Her mind was on the verge of collapse, her throat already hoarse from screaming. Fear and despair coiled around every inch of her soul like icy venomous snakes.
Meanwhile, in the real world.
Inside the subway carriage.
All anyone saw was the woman in the Lolita dress, so arrogant just moments earlier, suddenly freezing in place as though someone had pressed pause after Luo Li glanced at her.
The arrogant expression froze on her face, which then turned visibly deathly pale. Her pupils dilated sharply, filled with utter terror.
Her mouth hung open as though she wanted to scream, but no sound came out except strange, rasping noises from her throat, like broken bellows.
Then her body began trembling violently and uncontrollably, shaking like chaff in a sieve.
Tears, snot, and even drool streamed down uncontrollably, ruining her carefully applied makeup and leaving her a wretched sight.
Her legs gave out, and she collapsed to the floor with a thud, clutching her head and curling into a ball as though warding off some invisible, terrifying attack. Incoherent, tearful whimpers escaped her mouth.
The entire process, from Luo Li looking at her to her collapsing on the floor, took only... one second.
The carriage fell deathly silent.
Everyone was stunned by the sudden turn of events. They stared slack-jawed at the woman on the floor, a disgraceful heap like a puddle of mud, then at Luo Li, who stood there calmly as though he had done nothing.
What had just happened?
How had that little fairy suddenly... ended up like this?
Only Castorice seemed to faintly sense the cold, vast fluctuation of mental energy that had flashed through Luo Li.
She looked at the woman on the floor, who had gone from arrogance to collapse in an instant. A flicker of understanding crossed her violet eyes. Then she looked at Luo Li, her gaze filled with a complex light-surprise, satisfaction, but above all, an indescribable sense of... reassurance.
Luo Li ignored the uncertain, suspicious looks around him and did not look at the woman on the floor whose mind had temporarily collapsed.
He simply turned, gently took Castorice's hand, and spoke in a voice so tender it seemed it could melt. "Let's go. Our stop is next."
His palm was warm and dry, carrying a reassuring strength.
Castorice looked at him, then glanced at the woman making a spectacle of herself on the floor. She nodded gently and tightened her hand around his.
"Mm."
Under countless gazes filled with shock, curiosity, and awe, the two walked toward the carriage doors as though nothing had happened.
Behind them remained the woman in the Lolita dress, still struggling and whimpering in her mental hell, along with the mess on the floor and the lingering terror.
The train arrived at the station, and the doors opened.
Holding Castorice's hand, Luo Li walked out unhurriedly, leaving the noise and chaos completely behind.
On the platform, fresh air filled their lungs.
Castorice stopped and raised her head, looking deeply into Luo Li's eyes with her violet gaze, in which countless stars seemed to shimmer.
She asked softly, her tone carrying a hint of curiosity but not the slightest fear, "Luo Li... what did you do to her just now?"
Luo Li looked into her clear eyes, smiled faintly, and answered nonchalantly, "Nothing."
"I just let her... get a little taste of the 'retribution' she deserved."