Witch’s Night: Chapter 18 Manor Transformation
Initially, Luo Yan had only changed into men’s clothing at Hua Qingling’s request.
Only later did she discover that this banquet was full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers, and her Life Hacks, which had been foolproof in Yan City, repeatedly failed.
Tina and Chris aside, Norian’s nervous appearance also forced Luo Yan to undo the masking effect.
Fortunately, she had also changed her appearance, so she wasn’t overly conspicuous.
Luo Yan’s straightforward admission was somewhat unexpected for Chris, but she quickly recovered. Seeing Luo Yan looking at her with questioning eyes, seemingly waiting for her next question, Chris subconsciously turned her head away. Luo Yan said softly,
“Miss Chris, have you met me before?”
Logically, with Luo Yan’s current level of control, she didn’t have to worry about losing control of her power for at least three or four months.
In other words, the problem of something possibly happening when she looked directly into someone’s eyes wouldn’t occur in the short term, unless she deliberately used her ability.
But Chris’s reaction was as if she had been looked at directly.
“No…”
Chris immediately denied it.
“Mm.”
Luo Yan simply nodded indifferently at the answer and didn’t pursue it further.
Whether they had met before wasn’t important; Luo Yan had just asked casually.
After politely bowing, Luo Yan turned and left the room, leaving Chris alone.
“…Indeed a bit scary.”
Chris slumped slightly in her chair and breathed a sigh of relief.
Luo Yan hadn’t shown any malice from beginning to end, but Chris knew her identity and had faced her eyes directly, which was why she felt so much pressure.
At the same time, Chris could also understand why Luo Yan had maintained an indifferent attitude, seemingly uninterested in her appearance.
Although it had only been a fleeting glimpse, she had been captivated by Luo Yan’s eyes, but that silver figure had left a deep impression on Chris.
“She is indeed more beautiful than me…”
Chris sighed, but then became nervous.
Wait, Sister Qingling… had been living with such a beautiful and charming person all this time!
Chris had always regarded Luo Yan as a non-human existence, but after interacting with her, she found that, aside from her identity, Miss Luo Yan was a very ordinary girl.
Innocent, liked to be alone, very polite when interacting with others, and more importantly, very beautiful, even more beautiful than Chris.
This way…
“Could something have happened between them?”
Chris suddenly became restless, thinking she still had to go find Sister Qingling.
Although Sister Qingling was currently carrying out Magistrate Norian’s commission and was on a mission.
But as a Shadow Guard, she also had the ability to participate in this unknown operation.
The distraught Chris just wanted to stay by Hua Qingling’s side; only this could give her a sense of security.
Just like many years ago, Sister Qingling, holding her young self, had fought their way through a Calamity…
Chris took out the Shadow Guard equipment she carried with her and opened the door with a serious expression.
…Then she saw Miss Luo Yan, who was just about to raise her hand to knock, staring blankly at her.
“…Hmm?”
Luo Yan’s gaze shifted slightly downwards, landing on the somewhat familiar clothes in Chris’s hand, and she suddenly realized,
“So it was you.”
Discovered!
A look of panic appeared on Chris’s face. She immediately stepped back several steps, hid the clothes behind her, and exclaimed,
“It wasn’t me! You’ve mistaken me.”
“…”
Luo Yan’s eyelids twitched.
…Miss Chris seemed particularly fond of deceiving herself.
Of course… in the end, she still had to admit it; she was caught red-handed with undeniable evidence.
Chris sat obediently in the chair, waiting for Luo Yan to reprimand her.
She was the one peeping; she was in the wrong.
“So you were there to see Sister Qingling?” Luo Yan thought carefully about the scene at that time and nodded thoughtfully. “I see… There’s no need to go to such lengths. You could have just knocked on the door and come in. She’s quite fond of you and wouldn’t shut you out.”
Fond of your money.
As for you as a person… that’s unclear.
Anyway, every time Hua Qingling mentioned Chris, she would focus on the meals Chris treated her to and her extravagant spending, making Luo Yan’s impression of Chris only that of a rich person.
Actually, Chris had wanted to go through the main entrance, but at that time, she didn’t know what kind of existence Luo Yan was, so she could only check on Hua Qingling in this way.
“Miss Luo Yan, aren’t you angry?” Chris asked tentatively.
“Not angry. Aren’t you Sister Qingling’s little fan?” Luo Yan touched her chin. “Peeping, stalking, drugging, aren’t these all things a little fan would do? In Hua Qiling’s storybooks, the younger sister always likes to do these things to the older sister…”
(Background: Hua Qiling had a large collection of Yuri manga.)
“…I think Miss Luo Yan must have misunderstood something.”
Chris broke out in a cold sweat. She wasn’t that kind of perverted fanatic, okay? Besides, what was this about a younger sister and older sister?
Wait, Hua Qiling?
She seemed to have heard Sister Qingling mention that it was her younger sister…
Suddenly, it seemed rather terrifying.
Of course, this irrelevant small talk didn’t last long. Luo Yan hadn’t come back specifically to run into Chris; there was another reason.
“I just walked around and found that many unfamiliar faces have appeared in Spencer Manor.” Luo Yan’s expression became a little serious. “I know some of them are Magistrate Norian’s people, but besides them, there are others… who give me a very uncomfortable feeling.”
“What kind of feeling?” Chris asked.
“Like the feeling Sister Qingling would have if she suddenly learned that a little fan was secretly peeping at her with ill intentions?”
Chris: “…Please, don’t.”
“No, I’m just purely describing the feeling. I always feel like these people are looking for me… Although they can’t detect my presence because of my Life Hacks.”
Luo Yan’s expression was serious. “I don’t know the situation in Lannister, but I instinctively feel that something’s wrong, so I came back to find you, Miss Chris.”
“But I don’t know either.” Chris widened her innocent eyes. “I’m just an ordinary idol.”
“An idol can’t…”
“But I’m also the second daughter of the Lequista family, and I’ve mastered our family’s inherited ability!”
Looking at Chris’s aggrieved expression, Luo Yan felt like a creepy old man from a storybook who liked to blackmail innocent girls, although the old men in the storybooks she read usually met tragic ends.
“I just want to confirm what happened in Spencer Manor,” Luo Yan sighed. “I have a strange intuition that they’re after me… Hopefully, it’s just an illusion.”
Hearing this, Chris also realized that something wasn’t right.
Thinking about it calmly, Sister Qingling suddenly taking on a commission from Magistrate Norian and leaving the banquet was quite suspicious in itself.
What kind of urgent commission would make Magistrate Norian trouble Sister Qingling, who was attending the banquet?
Lannister wasn’t Yan City. Its strength ranked among the top five in the entire Free Federation. Several powerful “Peril” level ability users resided in the city, and coupled with the abundant energy of the “Ember Formation,” they were enough to deal with all Calamities below “Destruction” level.
If it were truly a “Destruction” level Calamity, Lannister wouldn’t be as calm as it was now, and the banquet wouldn’t still be going on.
Unless… the number of Calamities was so large that even Lannister didn’t have enough manpower and was forced to hire additional adventurers.
Now that something strange was happening in Spencer Manor, Chris didn’t think Luo Yan was lying and believed her intuition.
“I’ll go with you, Miss Luo Yan.” A determined look appeared on Chris’s delicate face. “Moreover, if something unexpected really happens, and you have to leave Spencer Manor, I must go with you.”
“Suit yourself.”
Luo Yan shrugged and walked out.
……
“Still haven’t found her? Could it be… that she left?”
“I think it was Count Spencer’s misjudgment.”
“Count Spencer wouldn’t send unnecessary information to fellow travelers, and I can sense the aura of the Gods spreading in the manor.”
“The Bishop has summoned the projection of the Gods, and the aura of the Gods is enveloping the entire Lannister, including Spencer Manor… This has no direct connection to whether she’s in the manor or not.”
“No, I feel the favor of the ‘God of Hope’ here… I am Her loyal follower, please trust my judgment.”
Several figures whispered, uttering vague words in strange syllables. If ordinary people heard their conversation, they would instantly fall into confusion and lose themselves.
If Luo Yan were here, she would be able to understand these words and would discover that these people were using a language similar to “True Names,” but the amount of information contained was far less vast than that of “True Names.”
At best, it could only be considered encrypted and accelerated information exchange, after all, a whole sentence could be completed with just two or three syllables.
They only exchanged information when passing each other, uttering a few syllables. This made it very difficult to distinguish the followers of the Church of the End Gods from the numerous servants in Spencer Manor.
On the other hand, with Count Spencer as their inside man, and since these members of the Church of the End Gods already had Lannister identities, they didn’t need to use any force to come to the banquet and take Luo Yan away.
While Calamities created by the Church of the End Gods were erupting all over Lannister, Spencer Manor remained peaceful and undisturbed.
The disguised followers of the Church of the End Gods shuttled through Spencer Manor, searching for a phantom that was clearly right beside them, yet nowhere to be found.
“The sixth one…”
Chris opened her eyes and watched an indifferent servant pass by without even glancing at her.
This novel experience amazed Chris. She would never have thought that “Envy” could be used for this.
In current human records, “Envy” was considered a highly dangerous demonic power, involving the distortion of souls and wills.
Just like during the Yan City war, when Qin Wen touched “Envy,” she instantly fell from a steadfast demon slayer into a Devil’s Minion.
Silently changing a person’s thoughts and ideas, even reshaping their soul and body, this was the most terrifying aspect of “Envy.”
…But Miss Luo Yan was only using this ability to reduce her presence and change how others perceived her appearance, making Chris, who was also a mental ability user, feel the absurd sense of using a cannon to kill a mosquito.
“Unable to be attracted by your singing… their minds have been corrupted.” Luo Yan exhaled, her expression serious. “Are they Devil’s Minions? But they’re not as crazy as the Devil’s Minions I’ve seen before…”
Even as the pinnacle of mental abilities, “Envy” wasn’t omnipotent.
When it came to discerning abnormalities in people’s minds, Chris’s “Siren’s Song” was more effective.
The healing effect of “Siren’s Song” on the mind wasn’t “treatment,” but “guidance.”
Those affected would be immersed in this gentle singing, the restlessness of their souls calmed like never before, and their mental trauma and fatigue would gradually heal in this process.
On the other hand, Chris could also use a weaker version of this singing to distinguish between ordinary people and ability users, and between ordinary ability users and Devil’s Minions.
Ordinary people would be instantly immersed in the singing upon contact, while the minds of ability users would show slight ripples. But Devil’s Minions would only hear a series of incoherent noises, perhaps not even noticing them.
Luo Yan couldn’t do this. If she sang, she would probably be buffing these Devil’s Minions…
Using this method, Chris and Luo Yan had identified six suspected Devil’s Minions among the servants along the way, but these people weren’t like the Devil’s Minions in common perception.
Or rather, on the surface, they looked exactly like ordinary people.
How could this be…
“I’ve heard of a cult that once spread across the land, almost covering the entire sky.” Chris said in a low voice. “These people, called the ‘Church of the End Gods,’ were a lingering nightmare for humanity during the barbaric era.
“But now, they are gradually disappearing… That’s what we’ve always believed.”
“But is it really the case?”
Chris looked at another servant slowly walking past. Her weak “Siren’s Song” had no effect on this servant at all.
The seventh one.
“Is everything we once believed in true? Or is it what they want us to see?”
“Perhaps the Church of the End Gods never disappeared,” Chris whispered a terrifying guess. “They were just waiting, waiting for… the return of the Demons.”
Chris wasn’t just a national idol, not just a descendant of an ancient noble family, not just a Shadow Guard.
She was also what the Church of the End Gods called an Errant.
One of the current Saint candidates.
This was an achievement even her mother hadn’t attained.
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