Jiang Jian Yue didn’t answer.
Her gaze was drawn to something on the other side of the room.
There stood several easels.
There were no landscapes or figures on the canvases.
All of them were filled with extremely complex and bizarre geometric patterns, carrying a cold, mathematical beauty.
They looked like symbols she couldn’t understand, or perhaps an artistic representation of a circuit board.
And in the deepest corner of the room, there was a strange metal object.
It was covered with a Dust Cover, but the rough, square outline was still visible.
This place didn’t feel like a woman’s boudoir.
It was more like some kind of workshop?
Yuki Asahi turned back to look at Jiang Jian Yue, trying to find a hint of an answer on her face.
But Jiang Jian Yue didn’t look at him.
She was standing motionless, staring at the empty space in front of the workbench.
Yuki Asahi followed her gaze.
There was nothing there—only a bright patch of sunlight cast on the floor.
“What’s wrong? Yue?”
Jiang Jian Yue didn’t answer his question.
In her vision, right in that patch of light, a figure… a figure that shouldn’t exist, began to slowly emerge from the air.
A human shape formed from countless tiny particles of light.
A few seconds later, a complete image appeared there.
Long white hair like a waterfall, crimson pupils.
She stood sideways, just like in the photo, as if she had just set down a tool, frowning slightly as she stared at a Chip on the table, troubled by some difficult problem.
Her face was almost identical to Jiang Jian Yue’s, only… more mature, her figure fuller.
In those eyes, there was no coldness or emptiness like Jiang Jian Yue’s, but instead a kind of… vitality?
“Yue?”
Yuki Asahi felt a surge of panic.
Because her expression at that moment was one he had never seen before… confusion.
Her pupils were slightly dilated, unmoving, as if her soul had been pulled out.
Yue… was looking at something he couldn’t see, something that made her show such an expression of astonishment.
At that moment, the phantom—the White-Haired Red-Eyed Woman—seemed to finally notice the commotion on this side.
She slowly turned her head.
When those blood-red eyes, identical to Jiang Jian Yue’s, fell upon her, she froze.
In those vibrant eyes, a flash of astonishment, just like Jiang Jian Yue’s, appeared.
It was like looking in a mirror.
But then, the surprise melted away.
The woman’s lips curled into an extremely gentle smile.
There was curiosity in that smile, a trace of relief, and a kind of indescribable tenderness.
She didn’t speak, just maintained that smile and looked quietly at Jiang Jian Yue.
Then, she slowly raised her hand toward Jiang Jian Yue and beckoned softly.
Come.
She mouthed the words.
Jiang Jian Yue’s eyes flickered with a trace of struggle, then she snapped back from her daze.
Illusion?
Trap?
Undead?
Or a side effect caused by some passing Parasite?
Countless horror movies and web novels she’d seen in her previous life flashed crazily through her mind.
She instinctively took half a step back, every muscle tense, her eyes filled with wariness.
Seeing her caution and retreat, the smile on the woman’s face stiffened slightly.
She seemed a little hurt.
She lowered her hand and tilted her head a bit.
In those red eyes was a sadness, the kind that comes from being misunderstood by someone close.
She no longer beckoned but took a step toward Jiang Jian Yue.
There was no aggression.
She only seemed to… want to get closer to Jiang Jian Yue.
Her gaze never left Jiang Jian Yue’s face.
That “maternal” radiance—that gentle love powerful enough to melt any ice—grew stronger and stronger.
Jiang Jian Yue felt her breath quicken.
She realized she… couldn’t move.
It wasn’t control.
It was a tremor from the depths of her soul.
A warmth she had never experienced—a feeling of being unconditionally embraced and cherished.
This sensation caused a crack in the heart that had been encased in the cold realities of two lifetimes.
She even felt a ridiculous impulse.
She… she wanted to be held by her.
The woman’s figure grew closer in her vision.
Three meters…
One meter…
She stopped in front of Jiang Jian Yue.
The woman was a head taller, bowing slightly as she looked down at the “smaller version” of herself.
Her smile carried a hint of affection.
She raised her hand again.
This time, not to beckon.
But, like a true Mother, she reached out to touch Jiang Jian Yue’s cheek.
Jiang Jian Yue’s mind went blank.
Her usually frozen expression revealed a trace of longing that she could not suppress.
Her guard crumbled in that instant.
She even tilted her head slightly upward, as if to welcome the touch.
Yuki Asahi’s Golden Eyes flashed to life!
Tendrils of Emotional Perception Ability spread through the room, but still sensed no other presence.
What was going on?
Yuki Asahi suspected it might be a trap.
Without hesitation, he grabbed Jiang Jian Yue’s shoulders and pulled her behind him.
Jiang Jian Yue also snapped out of that strange state, a difficult-to-describe shame and anger flooding her mind.
Damn it! Was she being controlled?
“Who are you!?”
Jiang Jian Yue’s body trembled slightly.
That feeling of being out of control… was unbearable.
Yet, to her shock, the woman smiled faintly, then walked straight through Yuki Asahi’s body.
And touched Jiang Jian Yue!
Her vision went black.
She lost consciousness.
***
“…Life signs stable.”
“Blood pressure 130/80, heart rate 75.”
Fragmented voices pierced Jiang Jian Yue’s ears.
So noisy.
She felt as if she had slept for a long time, or perhaps she was trapped in a long, chaotic dream.
In the dream, there were roaring winds, endless deserts, a cold starry sky, and a woman, speaking to her endlessly.
She wanted to open her eyes, but her eyelids were heavy as lead…
She could feel someone gripping her hand tightly.
That touch was warm, familiar, tinged with anxious sweat.
Yuki Asahi…
With effort, she pried open a slit in her eyelids.
Blinding white light made her squint immediately.
This wasn’t the ceiling of Room 2103.
It was…
The hospital room on the third floor of Jiang Jian Apartment, the bed where Yuki Asahi had once lain.
“Yue?”
A familiar voice sounded in her ear.
She turned her eyes.
Her blurred vision gradually cleared.
Yuki Asahi’s face, etched with exhaustion and anxiety, was right beside her.
He was hunched over the bedside, gripping her hand as if he would lose her if he let go.
“I’m fine.”
Jiang Jian Yue gently pulled her hand away from Yuki Asahi.
“Let’s go.”
“Eh?”
“Discharge!”
Even though the Doctor tried hard to stop her, when the young lady insisted, there was nothing they could do—otherwise, they would be the ones leaving.
In the first-floor lobby of the apartment, Morita Aoya hurried over, his face full of worry.
Jiang Jian Yue ignored him and walked straight toward the door.
“Yue… where are we going?”
Yuki Asahi trotted after her.
“Home.”
Jiang Jian Yue spat out the word.
Morita Aoya didn’t try to stop her, only quickly arranged for a car.
The vehicle smoothly left Mejiro, merging into the evening traffic.
Yuki Asahi sat beside Jiang Jian Yue, not daring to make a sound.
He could sense that something about her had changed.
She still wore that emotionless expression, but the cold aura around her seemed even heavier.
“Yue, you…”
“Shut up.”
Jiang Jian Yue leaned back in the seat with her eyes closed, as if resting.
“Oh.”
Yuki Asahi closed his mouth, feeling aggrieved.
Jiang Jian Yue wasn’t resting.
She was… having a “conversation” with that woman.
The moment she sat in the car and relaxed, that voice appeared once more.
“Hmph… Awake? I thought you were going to crash until tomorrow.”
It was exactly her own voice, but filled with contempt and impatience.
This person really was arrogant.
“So, this is the way back to that rundown apartment? I don’t get what’s so great about a place like that.”
Jiang Jian Yue replied coldly in her mind.
“Who are you?”
“Guess?”
First, she ruled out “Mother.”
“What did you do to me?”
Jiang Jian Yue felt a strong sense of threat.
“Do? Nothing much! Oh, I upgraded you a bit, you useless thing.”
“You should thank me.”
“If it weren’t for me, you’d still be suffering from that ridiculous ‘Biological Pain’ like an idiot.”
Jiang Jian Yue froze.
Only then did she realize… the dull ache in her lower abdomen that had lasted for days…
Had disappeared.
All at once.
“Don’t make a big deal out of it. You’re not human. There’s no need to experience such low-level physiological behaviors.”
The voice was full of disdain.
Jiang Jian Yue’s heart sank.
Not only in her mind—she could even control and modify her body?
What did “not human” mean?
“Relax. I have no interest in seizing control of this body.”
“It’s too weak, underdeveloped, pitiful energy reserves, and… it’s tied to such a Low-Class Male.”
The woman seemed to turn her “gaze” toward Yuki Asahi beside her.
Yuki Asahi was secretly glancing at Jiang Jian Yue’s profile with worry.
“Tsk.”
Her voice was filled with undisguised contempt and disgust.
“This brat? Yuki Asahi?”
“You gave up everything from the Jiang Family for a little underage idiot who can’t even control his emotions?”
“You’re even more foolish than I thought.”
“Shut up!”
Jiang Jian Yue shouted inwardly.
“I’m just stating the facts.”
“Look at him, all worried, as if he wants to write ‘I’m weak, useless, but I care about you’ on his face.”
“What good is a man like that? To be your nanny? Or… a pet?”
“He’s not worthy of you.”
“Because he can cook for you? Because he worries about you? Ha… such cheap emotions.”
“Jiang Jian Yue, remember this. In this world, the only thing you can rely on is absolute strength.”
“Feelings—especially this kind of cheap ‘love’—are the most useless burdens in this world.”
“They only make you weak, hesitant, as pathetic as he is.”
What the hell, are you some kind of breakup-encouraging bestie!?
Oh my God she has even manifested a foid evil spirit