Chapter 164: A Sense of Familiarity
I have to say, Shen Baiwei’s “performance” was executed with an exceptionally high level of completion. Lu Yibei believed that if it were her, she couldn’t have done it better than Shen Baiwei.
However, this scene had a fatal flaw: at the “end,” they didn’t dare to spend a little extra to hire more extras.
It was akin to a tense, exhilarating, and high-energy suspense thriller suddenly revealing to the audience that everything they had watched for over a hundred minutes was merely a dream of a deluded teenager. One couldn’t help but want to shout, “Geneva, refund!”
If there had been one or two pursuers or scouts secretly following them on their way back from the market to Dai Mu Institute, Lu Yibei would hardly doubt Shen Baiwei. Unfortunately, Shen Baiwei seemed to overlook this point, which prompted Lu Yibei’s initial suspicion.
And that initial suspicion, once it took root in her heart, quickly grew like a vigorous seed buried in fertile, moist soil, extending countless branches.
Why was Shen Baiwei being chased? Did she have some conflict of interest with others?
But normally, wouldn’t members of the Miracle Cult rush in boldly after having a conflict of interest with others?
Why was Shen Baiwei running away? Could it be that she wasn’t a true member of the Miracle Cult?
…
Some things simply cannot withstand deep thought. With various ideas flashing through her mind, the more Lu Yibei thought, the more something felt off.
It was like someone borrowed one thousand five hundred bucks, returned five hundred the first time, and five hundred and fifty the second time.
Thus, she decided to charm Shen Baiwei, digging deeper into the dark little secrets buried in her heart.
Did you think that my sudden attack on you, and then throwing out the proxy player sister lines to Xiao Hua, was just to confuse her?
Wrong!
Both you and Xiao Hua are my targets of deception!
While thinking this, Lu Yibei played with her glasses and looked at Shen Baiwei, who was gradually entering a state of enchantment, a glint of cunning flashing in her eyes.
Did I succeed? I didn’t expect an A-Class Spiritual Ability User could be so easily enchanted.
You can’t keep your composure, can you, girl? You still dare to approach me? Isn’t that a freebie?
Lu Yibei thought and then asked, “So…”
“What’s your purpose in approaching me?”
Regardless of whether she had an ulterior motive, it was better to ask first.
After all, someone deeply enchanted wouldn’t be able to lie.
————~
Hearing the question from Calamity, the dazed Shen Baiwei subconsciously knew she shouldn’t answer but completely lost control and spoke.
“Because… I want to stop you from touching the past.”
Stop me from touching the past? Lu Yibei was taken aback, her eyes trembling slightly.
Could she be referring to the fact that I had changed Xia Lianqing’s fate and attempted to help Xia Lianqing and those soldiers?
But is she being too compliant? It feels like something I’ve seen before… probably in some hypnosis-themed story?
“What’s the reason?” Lu Yibei pulled back her thoughts and continued to ask. “There must be a reason, right? Also, I’m quite curious, how did you know that I touched the past?”
“Because of my power…” Shen Baiwei answered truthfully, “Your actions have greatly affected my spirit patterns. If you were allowed to do as you please, I would be injured, even killed.”
As she spoke, her gaze was hollow, and her expression blank, as though she were a puppet without consciousness, merely acting in accordance with the manipulator’s rhythm.
However, in truth, as Shen Baiwei unconsciously made her reply, her remaining awareness had already boiled over, constantly shouting, roaring, and clawing at her nerves, trying to pull her consciousness back on track.
Stop! Quickly stop!
Shen Baiwei, what are you doing?
Keep talking like this, and your secrets will all be exposed to Calamity!
However, her efforts were in vain. When Calamity asked the next question, she still couldn’t help but obediently respond.
“Your power? What is that?”
“Snake of Time…” Shen Baiwei, who didn’t want to answer, still replied.
Although Lu Yibei was very familiar with the feeling of being unable to control her mouth, it was her first time experiencing it, and the sensation was terrible.
It felt very strange, as if she were viewing from a third-person perspective, watching a vicious criminal wantonly manipulate her body, and her body was cooperating to the fullest even though she felt powerless.
d*mn that witch species! That’s why the Holy Warriors go all out to hunt witches in areas governed by the Holy Church; it’s not without reason.
However, there was also information within the Solar Eclipse Society indicating that this action by the Holy Church was due to a certain witch’s urban legend, who enchanted their high priest, causing him to mistake a lawnmower for a little boy and play with it all night…
Wait! What are you doing, Shen Baiwei? Wake up, is this really the time to think about such nonsensical things? Shen Baiwei shouted at herself in her mind.
Snake of Time? What the heck is that, I’ve never heard of it? A long worm? Lu Yibei thought, asking the most crucial question, “So, what is the specific ability of your power?”
She initially speculated that Shen Baiwei was trying to stop her from touching the past because she worried about things like the grandmother paradox, but Shen Baiwei’s response was unexpected.
This was the first time she encountered a power controlled by an urban legend or spiritual ability user that was related to the past.
She developed a huge interest in Shen Baiwei’s spirit pattern abilities.
“The specific ability of my power is…”
Halfway through, Shen Baiwei froze.
She suddenly felt an invisible hand gripping her throat, preventing her from continuing.
No, maybe those hands existed in reality, tightening more and more, the overwhelming feeling of suffocation tormenting her.
For a brief moment, Shen Baiwei even felt that there were three of her existing at that moment.
One was being enchanted by Calamity, answering questions; one was watching “Shen Baiwei” being enchanted, powerless with rage; and the third invisible self was trying to k*ll the current “Shen Baiwei”…
In a daze, she seemed to have a hallucination, seeing a group of people in white protective suits appearing before her.
The faces of these people were blurred, as if shrouded in thick fog.
One of them walked towards her, pulled out a pocket watch from their upper pocket, and slowly lowered it before her, coldly instructing her, “Now, as you look at this pocket watch imbued with witch species powers, when I count to three, activate your spirit power and record this moment.”
“One, two, three…”
As the words fell, the watch with a carved enchanting appearance and a n*ked female figure slowly began to sway back and forth before her eyes.
As the pocket watch swayed, her attention was completely captivated, sinking deeper and deeper, until she felt that the entire world consisted only of her and the woman on the pocket watch.
Dimly, a voice echoed in her ears and gradually became clear.
They were saying, “Seems to have failed? Did she not activate her spirit powers?”
“Let’s try again! If we can’t even record the innate ability of the witch species, how could we possibly deal with that man?”
For some unknown reason, upon hearing them wanting to try again, Shen Baiwei suddenly felt a tremor from the depths of her soul.
“Then, this time, do we need to add some external stimuli?”
“Of course! History that isn’t painful enough won’t be remembered, will it?”
“Night Erosion, or corrupting divine bl**d?”
“Let’s change it up a bit! I remember a while ago, didn’t Team Two create a batch of inactive X Tai Sui main body cells? Let’s give it a try?”
“Alright!” Someone responded, and then Shen Baiwei saw a figure in a white protective suit, holding a syringe, walking towards her and injecting the slowly writhing dark green substance into her body…
Pain, sudden and abrupt, as if intending to destroy both her body and soul.
————~
Lu Yibei was engrossed in tinkering with Shen Baiwei’s “original body,” eagerly awaiting her response.
Noticing that Shen Baiwei’s voice had suddenly stopped, she frowned slightly, looking up at Shen Baiwei, ready to increase the enchantment’s intensity. But upon seeing the scene before her, she suddenly froze.
As if suffering immense pain, Shen Baiwei’s facial features were contorted, her body curling up, hugging her knees and twitching involuntarily.
Without knowing when, the surroundings fell silent, even the sounds of breathing and heartbeat vanished.
A strange chill quietly spread, yet Lu Yibei, witnessing the white mist pouring from her mouth and nose, felt no awareness of it.
A sudden, discomforting high-pitched screech erupted, piercing her eardrums, causing her eyes to sting.
The images in her vision shook violently, becoming exceedingly blurry as illusory, chaotic black lines swiftly expanded in all directions, quickly filling her sight.
It felt like only a moment had passed, or perhaps it felt like millions of years. When Lu Yibei regained her senses, it seemed the entire world consisted only of her and Shen Baiwei.
In her view, Shen Baiwei was tilting her head, sitting in the chair directly in front of her, her figure emaciated, her gaze hollow, and in her sunken eye sockets, dark green tendrils wiggled, her mouth curled into a nightmarish, eerie smile.
It was as if… she had been thoroughly destroyed.
The next moment, a chaotic tide of darkness surged, extinguishing her consciousness like a flame, plunging her into silence.
In her daze, she heard a strange sound, like the ticking of a clock.
“Tick-tock… tick-tock…”
Accompanied by that monotonous, maddening sound, Lu Yibei felt something being peeled away from her body, then thrown backward by a strange force.
But where was backward?
————~
It was as if a brightly lit light suddenly turned on in a pitch-black room, light appearing before her.
A bit dazzling.
“Name?”
When Lu Yibei regained her senses, she heard this voice.
In that instant, she even doubted whether she had been abducted by some inexplicable organization, smoothly entering an interrogation process.
She instinctively wanted to respond, but after a brief moment of shock, she noticed that sitting opposite her was a short-haired girl with glasses. She suddenly realized that the questioning voice had come from her own mouth.
But… why do I feel like I’ve asked this question before?
Lu Yibei gazed at the girl before her, frowning.
She suddenly felt something very strange.
This scene felt familiar…
Thin Snow Pigeon
The term specifically refers to the Australian Snow Pigeon, which is the smallest among pigeon breeds, standing only about 3 inches tall and measuring only six to seven inches in length, significantly smaller than the more common dove. Additionally, the feather colors vary.
The most notable feature of this pigeon is its large, circular eyes, surrounded by red skin, somewhat resembling a tumor. In my opinion, the pure white snow pigeon, paired with such large eyes, is quite unappealing, but the darker-colored snow pigeons aren’t affected. The Thin Snow Pigeon is very gentle in nature and can stand on its owner’s hand, which means they can be hand-trained; this is one of their advantages. Thin Snow Pigeons are small in size, gentle in temperament, and consume very little food. Their cooing is very fine, even slightly sharp, and truly doesn’t sound like a bird’s voice.
I got hit by an electric scooter when I went out, my ribs are in excruciating pain, and I can’t sit and type… taking a day off.@@
