Girl Doesn’t Die in Fairytale Town: Chapter 35 – Little Tini’s Invitation
Ghost Town, Interior.
Before heading to Natalie Manor, Luo Yan and the others made some preparations, out of caution.
Grifres bandaged his wounds from the previous battle. Although they were difficult to heal due to the corrosive liquid, they had to make do with what they had.
Hua Qiling and Luo Yan were uninjured. Hua Qiling fiddled with her communication device, no longer needing to hide it from Luo Yan.
However, she still couldn’t establish a connection. Some kind of force field seemed to be blocking the communication pulses, just like what had happened with the surveillance equipment.
Luo Yan examined the sniper rifle Hua Qiling had given her, along with the two remaining “Philosopher’s Stones” and sixteen ordinary bullets.
With the sniper rifle, Luo Yan went from being dead weight to possessing near-“Peril” level combat power, seemingly with a bonus effect in Ghost Town, making her much stronger than Hua Qiling.
Although she was just a fragile glass cannon, it was better than being completely helpless.
By the time Grifres finished bandaging his wounds and Luo Yan finished examining the rifle, it was time to head towards their final destination: Natalie Manor.
Only Hua Qiling frowned, troubled by the useless communication equipment in her backpack.
“Noon…”
Luo Yan looked up at the perpetually dim sky and murmured.
“What?”
Hua Qiling didn’t hear her clearly.
“It’s time for lunch,” Luo Yan said.
“Uh…” Grifres frowned. “Miss Luo Yan, at a time like this…”
“Just a meaningless thought, don’t mind me.”
Luo Yan lowered her eyes and whispered.
“Let’s go, let’s go,” Hua Qiling urged, patting Luo Yan’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, Miss Luo Yan, we’ll find a solution.”
“I know.”
Luo Yan nodded slightly, masking her emotions, and led Hua Qiling and Grifres towards Natalie Manor.
…
Dark clouds crowded the sky, faint rays of light filtering through the gaps, sparsely illuminating the town.
As Luo Yan and the others emerged from a withered forest, Natalie Manor came into view.
This wasn’t the first time Hua Qiling and Grifres had seen the manor. The broken fence, the rusty iron gate, the signs of vandalism everywhere… yet, traces of its former splendor remained.
The gloomy, castle-like mansion stood in the center of the manor, its gate smashed halfway open, the other half creaking precariously in the breeze.
Hua Qiling stayed close to Luo Yan, while Grifres cautiously led the way, gradually approaching the manor.
Only Luo Yan walked calmly, her expression unchanged, though a complex look flashed in her eyes as she saw the state of Natalie Manor.
They carefully passed through the iron gate and entered the manor.
The moment they stepped inside, a cheerful, childish voice suddenly rang out.
“Welcome… everyone… to Natalie Manor!”
The voice continued excitedly, “Hee hee, Mommy said that today, little Tini is the mistress of the manor, and I must be a good host… and make everyone feel happy!”
As the voice faded, Hua Qiling and Grifres felt a wave of dizziness. When they regained their senses, their expressions were filled with confusion.
“What… happened?”
Hua Qiling looked around and murmured.
Grifres’s expression was serious, a spear faintly forming in his hand. He looked at the transformed Natalie Manor, his breathing slightly rapid.
In an instant, the gloomy ruins, seemingly abandoned for centuries, had become a magnificent manor bathed in sunlight.
Warm sunlight poured down, lush flowers and trees filled the garden, and birdsong filled the air.
A stately and elegant castle stood in the center, its gate slightly ajar, as if awaiting guests.
Even after using “Eagle Eye” repeatedly, Hua Qiling could only conclude that this was real.
Grifres also couldn’t find any clues. This wasn’t the desolate town, but it wasn’t a spiritual domain either.
“Are we… just going to go in…?”
Not just Hua Qiling, but even the experienced Grifres felt a chill down his spine.
This Natalie Manor reeked of strangeness and unease, like a blatant trap waiting for them to walk right into it.
But Luo Yan didn’t speak. She carried the sniper rifle and walked calmly towards the castle gate.
Unlike what Hua Qiling and Grifres saw, in Luo Yan’s vision, everything in Natalie Manor was blurry, countless patches of color piled together like randomly smeared paint.
This was the vision Luo Yan was most familiar with. In her memory, she always saw a world of childlike scribbles.
She used to be puzzled by this, troubled by her blurry vision, but not anymore.
“Is this… little Tini’s lost wish…?”
Luo Yan reached out, wanting to touch these scribbled images.
But several voices interrupted her.
“Oh, it’s little Tini hosting today. Then we won’t stand on ceremony!”
“We’ve taken good care of Mrs. Natalie on weekdays, so it’s only right that we do this today!”
“Careful, careful! Walk this way, don’t damage anything in the manor…”
At the same time, Hua Qiling and Grifres were startled to see numerous people appear in the manor.
Living, breathing people…
They chatted and laughed, walking towards the castle in groups.
These people seemed not to see Luo Yan and the others, passing right through them.
“Who… who are they?”
Hua Qiling held her breath as she watched the group pass through them.
“I don’t know,” Grifres frowned. “I can see their souls, but they’re… normal.”
To his spiritual senses, they were just ordinary people.
“Miss Luo Yan?”
Hua Qiling looked up and asked.
“The townspeople,” Luo Yan whispered.
Dr. Messier, Uncle Andre, Grandpa Casico… all the monsters who had been kneeling and wailing in front of the church now appeared before Luo Yan, just like in the past, in their usual scribbled forms.
Were they real?
Or just… fading phantoms of the past…?
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