Chapter 93: Love
The sharp tip of the blade pressed against Luo Ling’s heart, her sister’s gentle yet sorrowful voice echoing in her ears.
All the warmth and tenderness had vanished, replaced by an icy killing intent, just like countless times before, even her sister was no exception.
Luo Ling met her sister’s gaze, her expression softening as she closed her eyes.
So this was it… the Puppet Ballad’s scheme…
She had seen through everything, understood everything, yet in this moment, facing her sister, she had already lost.
Lost to the past.
Lost to the warmth of their shared memories.
Lost to the long years they had spent together.
Every moment, every memory, etched in her heart, unforgettable.
“Xiao Ling, Sister… will be as gentle as possible.”
Warm fingers traced Luo Ling’s forehead, then reached down to her lips, gently prying them open.
Was this truly the end?
Luo Ling felt no resentment, only endless regret.
A sense of relief, finally free from this torment…
No longer needing to struggle against the Puppet Ballad, against her sister.
But just then, a cold liquid, tinged with a metallic sweetness, slid down her throat.
Luo Ling’s eyes snapped open, and she saw her sister’s gaze, still filled with tenderness.
The dagger, their fingers intertwined around its hilt, trembled slightly, as if her sister was struggling to control herself.
She had just fed her… her own blood, the flesh and blood of the Puppet Ballad.
“Xiao Ling, Sister… delicious?”
Her sister smiled gently, warmth and a grotesque hunger warring in her eyes, her body trembling slightly, just like Luo Ling’s.
Not… delicious at all.
This bitter, painful taste…
Like tears mixed with emotions, the agony of having everything she cherished torn away.
A poison, destroying the past, erasing memories.
Luo Ling felt the urge to vomit, an uncontrollable revulsion, a deep-seated resistance.
Even now, subconsciously, she refused to accept that her sister was the Puppet Ballad, and the Puppet Ballad was her sister, one and the same.
Even with her sister offering her own flesh and blood, she only felt disgust.
Disgust at the Puppet Ballad, still trying to use her, even now.
“Trying to turn me into an ‘egg’ as well…? Never!”
Luo Ling spat out the blood.
She looked directly at her sister and said calmly,
“I am me, I will not become… someone else.”
Even if becoming an “egg” meant she could be with her sister, the Puppet Ballad, in another form, forever.
But that wasn’t what Luo Ling wanted.
She would rather die now than live in such a future.
She wouldn’t accept such a sister.
“…Is that so…?”
A flicker of disappointment appeared in her sister’s eyes, as if regretting Luo Ling’s refusal.
Their intertwined fingers slowly lifted, and the Severing Edge, a dagger Sacred Tool crafted from black ice and a Sacred Relic, rose between them.
“Xiao Ling, you really are…”
Su Wan looked up, her face a mixture of struggle and hesitation, then, as she looked down at Luo Ling again, a smile of relief and release appeared on her lips.
“That’s wonderful…”
“My Xiao Ling, truly the best…”
The next moment, the dagger plunged downwards.
Piercing a chest.
But not Luo Ling’s.
But… her sister’s.
Luo Ling watched in horror, her trembling fingers loosening their grip on the dagger, but her sister held on tight, pushing it deeper.
“Sigh, Sister worried for nothing,” Su Wan smiled, struggling, as if fighting against her survival instinct, the hunger and craving gone, replaced by an endless love in her eyes as she gazed at her beloved sister. “Xiao Ling is Xiao Ling… much stronger than Sister… cough…”
The Severing Edge’s ability activated, continuously killing its target.
“Sister…”
Luo Ling whispered, her own voice startling her.
…Such sorrow and pain.
“Unlike Sister, who… can’t help but… want to consume you…”
Su Wan’s body slumped against Luo Ling, her blood-stained cheek resting on her shoulder.
The Severing Edge hummed. Even with its sure-kill ability, it would take a long time to kill a fully formed High-Risk Grotesquery.
Luo Ling struggled to break free, to pull out the dagger, but her sister’s seemingly weak body held her fast.
“No, don’t…”
A sob, filled with terror.
“A little pain… so Sister can… hold on… a little longer… to see you… a little longer…”
Su Wan lovingly stroked Luo Ling’s hair, savoring the warmth of her small, soft body.
“It’s good… that Xiao Ling won’t become… a monster like Sister… otherwise… Sister would have to… consume you… with tears in her eyes…
“Because Sister knows… becoming a monster like this… would make Xiao Ling… very sad…”
Luo Ling’s expression changed, recalling her sister’s strange behavior and the dagger at her chest.
So…
Her sister had been testing her, confirming whether she was the same as the Puppet Ballad.
The dagger, their fingers intertwined around its hilt, could kill both of them.
The blood she had been fed was a test of her instincts.
Whether she would react like the Puppet Ballad…
If Luo Ling was the same as the Puppet Ballad, even if she sacrificed herself, she couldn’t save her sister.
Luo Ling would only become the next Puppet Ballad.
A tragic existence.
But if she wasn’t…
Luo Ling realized what her sister was trying to do.
“But… Xiao Ling saying I wasn’t delicious… did hurt Sister’s feelings a little,” Su Wan chuckled, blood trickling from her lips.
She was dying.
“No… Sister…”
Luo Ling struggled.
But the more she struggled, the deeper the dagger plunged.
“I was born for this moment, Xiao Ling,” Su Wan’s gaze never left her sister’s face, the pain of her dying life force overshadowed by the happiness of this moment. “Sister promised… to always love you… if you also love Sister…”
“Don’t…”
Panic and terror.
“Then… consume me, Xiao Ling.”
Su Wan calmly uttered the words Luo Ling had expected, yet dreaded to hear.
“No…”
Luo Ling couldn’t speak.
Her mouth opened slightly, but her voice was choked with tears and sorrow.
“Xiao Ling, Sister also wants to… always be… with you…”
Embracing her beloved sister, Su Wan’s eyes were filled with love and reluctance.
“But… I can’t help but want to hurt you, to consume you… can such a sister… still be your sister?”
A tight embrace, her body trembling.
“Sister… is a monster…”
“But Xiao Ling, even if I’m a monster, you’ll still love Sister, right?”
“If you do… then consume Sister…”
Finally, in Luo Ling’s blurred vision, she saw her sister’s life force fading.
Only then did her struggle against her instincts cease, her sister finally returning… to her true self.
Her sister, Su Wan.
She released her embrace and collapsed.
“Sister!”
Luo Ling reached out, catching her sister’s limp body, burying her face in her chest, sobbing uncontrollably.
“I’m sorry, Xiao Ling, Sister is running away… leaving everything to you,” Su Wan raised her trembling hands, cupping her sister’s face, gently wiping away her tears one last time. “You’ll… have to work hard.”
“Consume me. This is… this incompetent sister’s… final wish. Please… forgive me…”
Her gaze dimmed, her life force fading.
Completely extinguished.
Luo Ling buried her face in her sister’s chest, unwilling to look up, until her sister’s warm body gradually turned cold.
Until she clearly sensed… the aura of death.
Not the Puppet Ballad, but Su Wan, her sister, who had struggled, then peacefully embraced death.
When Luo Ling finally looked up, she was overcome with grief.
But her tears had already dried.
She reached out, pulled out the dagger from her sister’s heart, scraped off the blood with her finger, and lovingly placed it in her mouth.
Still a bitter taste.
But…
“Sister…”
I think… I see something…
Her sister, cooking at home, her busy figure in the kitchen, the tired smile that appeared on her lips when she heard the door open.
This was… her sister’s memory.
Just a fleeting glimpse, then gone.
No, don’t leave…
Luo Ling reached out, trying to hold onto this faint memory.
Trembling, she took more of the bitterness from her sister’s wound and swallowed it.
She saw more… of her sister’s memories.
The bustling convenience store, everything in shades of gray.
Among the passing crowds, nothing to hold her attention.
Suddenly, a splash of color in the gray world, a faint figure, her face unclear, calling out…
“Sister.”
That was her.
Her… in her sister’s eyes…
So that’s how it was… so… that’s how…
Her sister had always seen her like this…
No wonder her sister could always recognize her, even in her transformed state, yet couldn’t recognize her in photos. In her sister’s eyes, she had always been unique.
As she consumed the bitterness, the fragmented memories, like pieces of a puzzle, came together.
This piece, her sister working.
This piece, her sister at home.
This piece, her sister shopping.
“…”
In every memory, every piece of bitterness, the same figure appeared.
A unique, beautiful splash of color in the gray world.
Her sister, her Xiao Ling.
—Her.
Her sister’s madness and grotesque form, her confusion and struggles, her love and tenderness, everything about her sister, deeply embedded within her.
Even though she was the Puppet Ballad, the so-called “Su Wan” merely a human skin,
Until her very last breath, she had been the sister who loved her more than anything.
Whether Puppet Ballad or Su Wan, she was her sister.
“This… is a Grotesquery…”
An existence beyond human comprehension.
Every attempt to define it, to explain it, only revealed more complexities, the limitations of humanity preventing them from truly understanding these beings called “Grotesqueries.”
As she swallowed the last of the bitterness, her sister’s final memory unfolded in her mind.
It was her, holding her sister, crying.
“Sister,” Luo Ling murmured, staring at the empty space where her sister had been, “You were so delicious…”
“So… don’t be sad… okay?”
“Okay…?”
Silent tears fell.
An unseen power descended upon Luo Ling, intangible yet familiar, like her sister’s warm embrace.
“This is…”
Luo Ling slowly raised her hand, countless invisible mycelia threads extending from her palm, connecting to Jiangcheng County.
This was her sister’s final gift.
The Puppet Ballad’s Authority.
—Kingdom.
“Wherever the Authority reaches, is its Kingdom. Whoever the Authority touches, becomes its servant.”
Jiangcheng County… was now within the Kingdom.
…
“There’s a new development in Jiangcheng County. Maintain perimeter security, I’m on my way.”
Li Shaoheng, who had been leading the evacuation, received Lu Fangling’s message and immediately stopped.
They waited for Old Madam Lu’s arrival several kilometers away from Jiangcheng County before deciding on their next course of action.
Lu Fangling wasn’t near Jiangcheng County, as she was evacuating the Company branch.
The situation seemed urgent, and Old Madam Lu didn’t keep them waiting long, arriving swiftly, her expression even more grim than before.
With a wave of her hand, a strong gust of wind enveloped her and Li Shaoheng, creating a barrier.
“Company headquarters sent… a rather perplexing message,” she said in a low voice.
“Hmm?”
Li Shaoheng frowned.
Something that even headquarters found perplexing, what could it be?
As the only organization with a presence in every Boundary, the Company’s archives were vast, containing records of all kinds of anomalies and incidents, even if they didn’t have solutions, they at least had some information.
“The Taboo Index has changed,” Old Madam Lu said grimly.
“A new Grotesquery? In Jiangcheng County?” Li Shaoheng was shocked. One Puppet Ballad was already a headache, if another one of the same level appeared… no, even just a Dangerous Grotesquery, the consequences would be unimaginable.
It might even become a pandemic like the Black Death in Europe.
Then, it wouldn’t be just a few cities affected.
Dozens, hundreds of cities could be destroyed, the entire Boundary falling into Disorder.
That was the most terrifying outcome.
“Yes and no,” Old Madam Lu took out her phone and showed him a picture. “A new Grotesquery has indeed appeared, but… it’s hard to say it’s new.”
Li Shaoheng took the phone, his eyes widening as he looked at the picture. He looked up at Old Madam Lu in shock.
“What… what’s going on…?”
The photo wasn’t of the Taboo Index itself, but a transcribed copy.
Although just a copy, it was still classified as top secret.
And within it… was a change that even the Company found perplexing.
“Grotesquery Sequence Number Forty-Nine, Silent Demise…”
“White Witch?!”
A new True Name, replacing the original Grotesquery in the Sequence, no wonder headquarters had reacted so strongly, even sending Old Madam Lu a classified document directly.
Normally, only P9 personnel were authorized to view such documents. Those below P9 would only receive verbal briefings.
“Unprecedented.”
Li Shaoheng exhaled, the shock still lingering.
The True Names of Grotesqueries recorded on the Taboo Index, even after being completely killed, wouldn’t change.
Even if another being obtained the deceased Grotesquery’s Authority, it would remain the same.
There had never been a case of a new Grotesquery replacing an existing one in the Sequence, and its True Name… was familiar to everyone present.
White Witch.
A member of the Qingshan Psychiatric Hospital Patient Exchange Group, a newbie Awakened One who had participated in the Baiyan Village incident and almost single-handedly resolved it.
Later suspected of being an apostle or agent of the Puppet Ballad, then single-handedly defeating the incubating “egg.”
Finally, shortly after the Jiangcheng County incubation barrier appeared, she had become the new Puppet Ballad.
No, not the new Puppet Ballad, but a new High-Risk Grotesquery, one that could only be called the White Witch.
Her identity, after so many twists and turns, had reached an unexpected conclusion.
Grotesquery Sequence Number Forty-Nine, Silent Demise: White Witch.
“Do the people in Jiangcheng County know about this?”
Li Shaoheng asked, knowing that the leader of Qingshan Psychiatric Hospital was Old Madam Lu’s ex-husband.
“Currently, I’ve only informed you. I haven’t told anyone else yet,” Old Madam Lu shook her head and continued,
“Headquarters suspects that all of White Witch’s previous actions were preparations for replacing the Puppet Ballad. This perfectly explains why she took the initiative to resolve the Baiyan Village incident and later confronted the Puppet Ballad.”
All their previous questions and doubts were now answered.
The White Witch and the Puppet Ballad were actually enemies, and now, the White Witch had emerged victorious.
“If this gets out, it won’t just be us, even the Grotesquery-side Awakened organizations will be in an uproar…”
Old Madam Lu said softly.
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