Chapter Seventy-Two: She Has Always Been Watching Me
Luxianbei slowly opened her two hundred or so eyes. As her eyes adjusted to the changing light, the scenery before her gradually became clear.
It was a small room of about ten square meters. The entire room contained only a single bed, a desk, and an old television set in the corner. The environment was enveloped in a soft, slightly yellowish white light, giving a sense of unreality as if she were in a dream.
After a brief moment of distraction, Luxianbei suddenly came back to her senses, realizing where she was.
This was the small room where she had just had dinner with Mrs. Wang Meili.
Luxianbei struggled to recall how she had woken up in this small room, her last memory being of the old photograph that had fallen with the wind and rain.
Then, that old photo seemed to explode suddenly, bursting forth with intense light, and her consciousness fell into silence under the overwhelming brightness.
“……”
But why am I here?
Logically speaking, this place should have disappeared along with Mrs. Wang Meili, right?
Could it be that Mrs. Wang Meili…
As she pondered, a bold conjecture gradually took shape in Luxianbei’s mind, and her emotions leaped with joy.
Although she had appeared calm and even somewhat indifferent during dinner with Mrs. Wang Meili, she was actually quite happy to meet her face to face; she just didn’t know how to express it, as no one had ever taught her.
Should she cry and cling to Mrs. Wang Meili’s embrace and act cute?
Don’t be ridiculous, how could she do something like that?
Moreover, what if Mrs. Wang Meili didn’t like it?
Growing up without a mother by her side left her clueless about how to interact with Mrs. Wang Meili and how to express her feelings, leading to her becoming distant and cautious in her speech and actions.
After successfully merging with the remnants of Mrs. Wang Meili’s powers, Luxianbei had once thought that if they had more time to bond, rather than a hurried meeting followed by immediate separation, they could become close, just like with her father.
Now, this opportunity seemed to be presenting itself.
With that thought, Luxianbei instinctively opened her forty-some mouths and called out.
“@#ļÆ嗷¥È±ª……”
In an instant, various sounds erupted, merging together to form a shriek that echoed throughout the small room, reminiscent of dozens of kettles boiling at once.
Hearing that piercing sound, Luxianbei quickly shut her last mouth, and the shrill wails suddenly ceased.
“……”
I forgot! I still look like a source of spiritual pollution; I never expected that it’d be so difficult to say a complete sentence in this state!
d*mn it, if I really call Mrs. Wang Meili over, will this appearance scare her?
What if she gets upset and sends me back inside her, restoring factory settings?
Luxianbei thought, feeling uneased like a child who had done something wrong and was worried about getting caught by their mother, but for some reason, she felt a twinge of expectation.
Expecting Mrs. Wang Meili to storm in angrily and give her a good beating.
Time passed slowly, and the small room was silent, only the crackling of the burning firewood in the fireplace could be heard.
Luxianbei widened her two hundred or so eyes, staring at the tightly shut wooden door of the small room. After waiting for a long time and still not hearing any sounds from the corridor outside, she finally realized that perhaps no one would be coming.
“……”
Well, the Proxy Player Sister did say, right? The Mrs. Wang Meili here is merely a projection, maintaining the operation of this special space.
Now that her mission was complete, it was only natural that she would not appear again.
What was I even expecting? Luxianbei thought.
Her easygoing nature quickly dissipated the empty feeling in her heart.
“Creak—!”
Suddenly, the wooden door of the small room opened without warning. Hearing the light sound of the door hinge moving, Luxianbei’s bulky, odd, and indescribable body trembled as if it had been electrocuted.
Then, she heard music coming from outside the door, still the same song “OURFAREWEL” that Mrs. Wang Meili had played.
“IN MY HANDS A LEGACY OF MEMORIES~♪ (Spreading Hands, Still Seeing Memories)
I CAN HEAR YOU SAY MY NAME~♪ (I Hear You Calling My Name)
I CAN ALMOST SEE YOUR SMILE~♪ (I Can Almost See Your Smile)
……”
d*mn it, didn’t I tell her to turn it off?
Luxianbei complained silently in her mind, instinctively propping herself up with her “hands” and trying to get off the bed. But in the next moment, she lost her balance, fell off the small bed, and crashed heavily onto the floor.
Luxianbei, “……”
This just shows that stories about protagonists crossing into another world and becoming monsters to dominate right from the start are completely unreliable.
You only know the truth when you experience it firsthand; within a short period, controlling the additional, messy limbs is utterly impossible. Those who can control thousands of hands and eyes are bodhisattvas!
Luxianbei felt that these limbs were like her mouths; although all attached to her body, many times they simply did not listen to her commands.
————
After the small room’s wooden door opened, Luxianbei waited in place for a moment. Since there was no sign of Mrs. Wang Meili or anyone else outside the door, she struggled to get up.
After adapting to her distorted body for a moment, she swayed towards the direction from which the music came.
Crossing the dimly lit corridor, she arrived at the dining room illuminated by the candlelight, and the view opened up before her.
The tape recorder in the corner of the dining room was running, wafting waves of singing.
The long, peach-colored table, which had previously been filled with crab dishes and various exquisite tableware, was now replaced with beautifully packaged gift boxes, each labeled with numbers from 1 to 19.
A total of nineteen gift boxes of varying sizes filled the table, even piled onto the floor.
In the embrace of those gift boxes, a small area was cleared in the center of the table, where several thick, new and old photo albums and an envelope sat quietly.
Luxianbei, “……”
In silence, she seemed to realize something. She twisted her body, climbed onto the chair at the long table, hesitated for a moment, and then used one of her myriad hands to pick up the envelope on the table. She gently tore it open and took out the letter paper inside.
Unfolding the thin sheets of letter paper, a page of elegant writing appeared before her eyes.
【My child, as if meeting face to face:
I am writing this letter to bid you a permanent farewell.
I believe that when you see this letter, you may already know that I am merely a projection of Lu Ming in this special space, cosmetically altered, and not your real mother.
However.
If you don’t mind, please regard me as Qin Nanzhu and read this long-overdue farewell letter, which is nineteen years late.
……】
Seeing the ending of the first page, Luxianbei trembled slightly as she gripped the letter paper, remaining silent for a long time.
“……”
d*mn! Is that late? That’s clearly early leave!
How is this woman still so polite and cautious while writing such a thing?
Is it necessary to explain and differentiate everything so clearly? Luxianbei thought.
Although the Mrs. Wang Meili in this special space is merely Lu Ming’s projection.
She indeed possesses all the memories of Qin Nanzhu and has been with Luxianbei in this special space for nineteen years.
Her existence may be somewhat fictitious, but her love for Luxianbei is undeniably real.
Without a doubt.
In silence, Luxianbei began reading the content of the second page of the letter.
【Hmm, where should I start?
How about starting from our first encounter?
On the morning of March 27, nineteen years ago, at 8:07 AM, I first sensed your heartbeat. I joyfully called for your father. I vividly remember how your father, tenderly caressing my belly, had an expression of deep pity yet was utterly at a loss.
Before that, I could hardly imagine that a man who once made the Siye Society, the Solar Eclipse Society, and various spiritual ability users and urban legends fear him, would reveal such an expression.
He said that such a significant moment must be recorded, so we went to the Mudan Street entrance and took a photo.
Little did we know it would be the last family portrait of the three of us.
However, after three months and two days since our first meeting, an unexpected event occurred.
On that day, your father hurriedly rushed back, telling me that there were people who didn’t want you to be born into this world, believing your existence would bring disaster, and warned your father.
But which parent would end their child’s life based on some vague prophecy and unwarranted warnings?
Certainly not us!
On this matter, your father and I shared the same thought.
However, regrettably, we differed on how to prevent you from bringing disasters to this world and ultimately leading to a tragic life.
That was the first serious disagreement between your father and me.
At that time, we were both impetuous and unwilling to back down. As a result of the deadlock, we went our separate ways and acted according to our respective ideas, giving those with ulterior motives an opportunity.
But.
My child, I’m sharing this with you not to incite you to take revenge, but simply to let you know that I love you dearly and did not intend to be absent from your life.
In fact, I deeply regret the decision I made back then.
Not only because that decision hurt your father, but also because I lost the chance to accompany you as you grew up and witness your development.
I couldn’t personally send you off to school on your first day, couldn’t stand up for you when you were being bullied, couldn’t watch you find someone you love, enter the hall of marriage with her, and couldn’t see you holding your child, cheering in joy.
A single absence leads to repeated absences.
As for the details of those past events, I won’t elaborate further; I don’t want you to live in hatred or let shadows loom over your future life. I genuinely wish for you to live well, according to your own heart’s desires…
Let’s stop here; if I write too much, you may grow weary of it.
There’s so much more to say about your conception, your birth, the love and blessings from your father and mother, which certainly cannot be finished with just a few words in this letter.
I am glad that you are willing to read this pile of complaints left by your irresponsible mother.
My child, being your mother is the most fortunate thing of my life.
I love you very much, and it is this love for you that has given me the courage to face the destiny of oblivion.
Although I have always known that there is no reincarnation in this world, even if urban legends resurrect from myths, they will no longer be the same urban legends as before, I still wish to say, if there is a next life, I would like to be your mother again.
In this life, I made many mistakes during my first experience as a mother, because I also didn’t know what I should do. If there is a next life, I will strive to be a somewhat qualified mother.
(I have left you some gifts; they are things your father and I fantasized about giving you on your future birthdays before you were born. I noticed he seemed to forget about them, so I took the liberty of preparing them for you. Additionally, those albums contain projections of your growth experiences, which may be of help to you.)
Sincerely.
Your loving mother, Qin Nanzhu.】
After reading the letter left by Mrs. Wang Meili, Luxianbei held the letter paper in both hands, sitting quietly on the chair for a long time.
She suddenly realized that even though that Mrs. Wang Meili was merely a projection of her father, a mother and a father are ultimately different.
After a long while.
Luxianbei refocused her attention, twisting her body to crawl across the long table, flipping open the first photo album. The first page of the album only contained a single photo, the same one that Qin Nanzhu mentioned in her letter.
Below the photo, a line of small text read, [2008.3.27 First Family Portrait].
She gazed deeply at the photo for a long time before turning to the second page.
The second page had seven or eight photos, documenting scenes of Qin Nanzhu traveling around the world gathering materials to construct the special space.
However, when she saw the last photo on the second page, she suddenly froze.
That photo was a portrait of Qin Nanzhu with a young girl, with the caption, [2008.7.2 She is a good girl].
The girl looked somewhat familiar, and after examining it closely, Luxianbei discovered she resembled Xing Yuan with at least eighty to ninety percent similarity; they were most likely the same person.
But this doesn’t make sense!
Mom actually interacted with my godmother?
According to Water Brother, they shouldn’t know each other!
Luxianbei pondered in confusion while continuing to flip through a few more pages in search of answers.
However, up to the photos before her birth, there was no further appearance of Xing Yuan.
When she reached the eighth page and saw a photo of herself as an infant, Luxianbei paused for a moment and couldn’t help but chuckle.
A ray of morning light fell on her cradle, and a head of soft, curly hair shimmered with a light golden hue in the sunlight. Her small face was rosy and round, with bright black eyes. It seemed to be curious about everything, with two small arms like tender lotus roots, shining white.
【2008.12.07 First Meeting, Please Take Care of Me】
“……”
Looking at her baby photo, Luxianbei hesitated for a long time before summoning the courage to continue flipping through the pages.
She knew that starting from this page, it was likely that only the projection remained, and no longer had Mrs. Wang Meili’s personal involvement.
【2009.1.8 One Hundred Days】
……
【2010.2.17 Finally able to say ‘Daddy’!
Seems a bit late, am I not very smart?】
……
【2013.8.31 First time getting hit.
Reason: Didn’t want to go to kindergarten.
Justification: When eating pitaya, the teacher wouldn’t let him pick the seeds.】
……
【2018.10.8 First time being called to a parent-teacher meeting.
The teacher asked them to write about the school sports day, and he wrote that the streamers were drooping around the playground.
The teacher asked him to revise it, but he refused, claiming that there was no wind that day, so the streamers couldn’t be fluttering.】
……
【2018.10.9 Second parent-teacher meeting, unexpectedly coming so quickly.
He eventually submitted to the teacher’s pressure and revised the essay.
In the opening line, he wrote: “It’s strange how on sports day, even though it was obviously not windy, the streamers around the playground were fluttering…”】
……
Luxianbei flipped through the photos that Mrs. Wang Meili had left using the projection of the special space, which documented almost her entire growth experience. As she looked at them now, the images triggered a flood of memories.
The photos captured Mrs. Wang Meili detailing various events perfectly; seeing snow for the first time, losing her first tooth, the first parent-teacher meeting, learning to cook with her father for the first time, and being liked by a girl in class, tricking her out of snacks for a whole semester and then telling her “You’re a good classmate!”
Many details she had even forgotten were meticulously recorded, some surprising, some embarrassing, and some made her smile knowingly.
Immersed in these memories, her body, which had become distorted from her chaotic thoughts, began to change without her knowledge.
Like spring rain that nurtures everything silently, the true remaking of her body began imperceptibly.
When Luxianbei finished flipping through the four photo albums and her body was quietly changing, the timeline in the albums reached a crucial moment—the summer after the college entrance examinations.
That was the year she traveled with her father for graduation.
“……”
The earlier photos had been documented in great detail. Wouldn’t it be…
If so, wouldn’t I be able to find out what happened that night of the accident?
Luxianbei thought, eagerly flipping open the last photo album.
However, the result left her greatly disappointed.
One page of the album showed her lying alone in the hospital room, while everything that had happened before being sent to the hospital seemed to have been skipped entirely, with no mention at all.
Luxianbei, “……” Indeed, I thought too highly of myself; the accident didn’t happen in Huacheng, so it wasn’t recorded by the projection, which is only natural.
As she pondered, she continued flipping through the pages and suddenly understood why the earlier years of photos had only four albums, while the last two to three years had two albums.
Photos that had originally only been recorded during special events became more frequent after she was hospitalized, occurring every two to three days, and once she met Miss Rabbit, the frequency increased to once a day, once every half day, or even once every hour.
Each photo detailed her being taken by Miss Rabbit as a sacrifice, swallowing the Witch’s egg in human form and becoming an urban legend, then her first urban legend hunt, her first acquisition of a follower, her first appearance in Huacheng as the Witch species, followed by drawing spirit patterns, obtaining Ling Tai Purification, and organizing the Hundred Demons Walk…
Through those photos, Luxianbei sensed Mrs. Wang Meili’s emotions as she observed and recorded through the projection, sometimes anxious, sometimes relieved, and sometimes cheering joyfully.
“So, she has always been watching me?” Luxianbei murmured. Looking at these photos, she inexplicably felt that her mother had always been by her side, accompanying her as she grew up.
After saying this, her body stiffened for a moment, suddenly realizing that her previously monstrous roar had restored to normal not too long ago.
Although that so-called normal was merely the voice of a transformed urban legend and fell far short of what she had hoped for, it was already many times better than the piercing screams of spiritual pollution from before.
As her focus shifted away from the albums, Luxianbei felt her heart beating, the bl**d flowing through her veins, the air filling her lungs with each breath, and she felt her hands and feet, her entire body intact.
For a brief moment, Luxianbei heard the sound of her body shattering, as if chunks of flesh were bursting open on her form.
It seemed she had been reborn, like she was being nurtured anew from her mother’s detailed records and affectionate memories.
She looked down to see her small hands, pale with a faint pink hue. She turned her head to glance at the window in the dining room where darkness lay outside, with her delicate profile reflected in the glass.
At that moment, Luxianbei realized that the remaking of her body had been completed.
Yet, for some reason, despite it being a moment that should have been filled with joy, two crystal clear tears suddenly streaked down her face.
————
After a while, Luxianbei finally pulled herself out of that empty state, temporarily gathering her emotions and began examining her current state.
She searched around the small room and found the bathroom. She stood in front of the mirror and began to evaluate the reflection of the young girl in the mirror.
The girl in the mirror had a slender figure, around one hundred fifty-six centimeters tall, not particularly eye-catching. Her slightly protruding chest was light yet certainly fitted her well.
Her long silver hair, interspersed with hints of pink, framed a gently lifted oval face. Her features resembled those of Mrs. Wang Meili in the photo but lacked her vigorous aura, while her peach blossom eyes held a touch of charm.
Overall, she gave the impression of a young girl who had just blossomed, appearing pitiful yet knowing more than one might expect, like a neighbor girl with a subtly cunning charm.
Luxianbei, “……”
Not bad, slightly better than her superior’s figure, but significantly worse than Gu Qiqi…
She appeared to embody a balanced state of mythological species and Witch species during the transformation into an urban legend, resembling her past self but seemingly taller, as if she had grown a year or two.
What is this!?
Either grow taller and become an alluring seductress, or shrink further to appear cute and innocent, but right now I’m awkwardly stuck between being a big sister and a young lady… Wait!
Luxianbei quietly complained, suddenly feeling as though she had seen something terrifying, her pupils contracting sharply.
Not knowing if it was because she had just thought of a smaller stature, the reflection in the mirror subtly changed in response to her thoughts.
“……”
What the hell? It got smaller?
Is it an illusion? Or is it because I just finished remaking my body and the state hasn’t stabilized yet?
Or could it be that…
As Luxianbei thought this, her gaze sharpened slightly, and she concentrated, envisioning her now tall and alluring figure in her mind.
In the next moment, she felt the flesh beneath her skin twitching gently, and after a few breaths, she blushed and averted her gaze from her own body.
I must clarify that I really don’t have any strange interests.
It’s just… “she” is really too alluring!
While complaining and adjusting her appearance in her mind, Luxianbei looked back at the mirror.
As expected, the young girl in the mirror, in terms of both physique and looks, resembled her envisioned self almost perfectly. Then her thoughts shifted again, accompanied by a wave of intense spirit energy exhaustion, the figure of the girl in the mirror became rounder and fuller.
“……”
After a brief silence, Luxianbei tried twice more until a wave of weakness from depleting her spirit energy washed over her, prompting her to stop. Gazing at the girl in the mirror, a realization began to dawn in her mind.
Whether it was due to utilizing the bl**d and flesh of the Inheritance Beast to remake her body, or perhaps because she had envisioned so many templates during the remaking process.
This time, the transformation had unexpectedly granted her a certain degree of ability to alter her appearance.
Though this ability to change her appearance was limited to certain ranges of height and weight, it could still serve as a strong means of disguise.
Coupled with the Zhu Yan transformation spell and the coat, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say she had a thousand faces, capable of endless changes.
At present, the only downside was the significant depletion of spirit energy; after transforming her appearance five times in a row, her spirit energy would be nearly drained.
Luxianbei pinched her face in front of the mirror, pondering out loud, “Could this be considered an unexpected delight?”
Though the massive consumption of spirit energy was a major problem, and she was uncertain if recklessly using this ability would bring some undesirable side effects.
Nevertheless, in certain specific situations, a slight alteration in appearance might easily help her evade danger.
Even if they looked similar, how could one assert that a sultry big sister and a petite, cute young girl were the same person? Luxianbei mused.
This could be considered an alternative means of preserving her life, but it shouldn’t be used frequently.
Firstly, the high consumption of spirit energy might impact her combat power during battles.
Secondly, aside from the significant spirit energy consumption, the remaining side effects were unknown.
This might have been a result of remaking her flesh using Wang Ying’s bl**d, leaving the physical structure unstable for a short time. Careless use of her abilities could easily revert her to her previous ghastly appearance.
This isn’t cowardice.
It’s simply a longstanding sense of reverence for powers that are unknown and unstable.
