Chapter 27: A Lion’s Share
The seventh floor of the hospital was eerily quiet. As Luo Ling walked down the long corridor, the silence made her question whether she had actually come to a psychiatric hospital. However, pushing open the door to the room at the very end of the hallway dispelled some of her doubts.
This was definitely a hospital, at least in appearance.
A withered old man lay on the bed, eyes closed, an oxygen mask covering his face. A bewildering array of medical equipment surrounded him, seemingly struggling to keep him alive.
“…You finally came.”
The old man slowly opened his eyes, his lips moving slightly, his voice echoing directly in Luo Ling’s mind. He didn’t seem to be speaking aloud but using some sort of ability to transmit his voice directly to her.
“You know me?” Luo Ling frowned. She had no recollection of this old man.
“No, but I’ve seen you,” a faint smile touched the old man’s lips. “In a mistaken glimpse…cough, cough…Let your hair down. I know it’s white.”
Luo Ling’s eyes flickered, and she slowly removed her beanie.
A cascade of pale, white hair tumbled down, adding an ethereal touch to her youthful appearance.
Removing her mask, Luo Ling asked in a low voice,
“Where have you seen me?”
The old man didn’t answer immediately. He stared at Luo Ling for a long moment, then said with a smile,
“Indeed, it is you…Didn’t I say? A mistaken glimpse, which has left me confined to this bed, struggling to survive.”
“…I didn’t do it.”
Luo Ling’s lips twitched. It sounded as if the old man had tried to peek at her and she’d put him in the hospital…
At least she was certain she hadn’t hit an old man. Her family couldn’t afford the medical bills.
“Of course not, it was my own doing.” The old man didn’t try to hide anything, explaining directly, “My path is Other Shore. I can briefly glimpse certain points along the threads of fate…When I was looking into Wu Qin’s death, I accidentally caught a glimpse of you.
“Do…you believe you killed Wu Qin?”
“Didn’t I?”
Luo Ling asked, confused.
She clearly remembered shattering Wu Qin’s defenses in her demonic form and destroying her brain.
“Of course not. Wu Qin was already dead. You didn’t kill her; on the contrary, you saved her,” the old man said slowly. “Wu Qin’s thread of fate should have been severed a year and a half ago, but due to a Grotesquery’s interference, her suffering was prolonged until your arrival brought her release.
“She was a Second-Order Awakened One. If she hadn’t willingly released her Bone Steel, with your power…how could you have pierced through so easily?”
The old man raised a trembling hand and tapped his temple.
Seeing his gesture, Luo Ling’s eyes widened in shock. Had the old man seen through everything with his ability?
Then her true identity…
“Unfortunately, even that fleeting glimpse was enough to severely injure me, almost fatally…And that was only possible because your thread of fate was entangled with Wu Qin’s,” the old man said with a smile. “You hold many secrets, not all of which can be easily probed. That’s why I call it a mistaken glimpse.”
Had he only seen her transformed appearance?
Luo Ling wasn’t sure. She looked at the old man silently.
“Let’s make a deal,” the old man, wise to the ways of the world, knew what Luo Ling was thinking and spoke directly. “The reason you came here must be related to the Grotesquery that interfered with Wu Qin’s thread of fate.”
“Did you also glimpse that?” Luo Ling asked in a low voice.
“Young lady, using my ability comes at a great cost, especially for you. I’m merely speculating,” the old man chuckled. “You don’t think I’m omniscient, do you? I’m just a Mid-Order Awakened One. Perhaps a High-Order Awakened One on the Other Shore path could achieve that, but I no longer have the opportunity.
“In reality, after glimpsing Wu Qin’s death, I followed the Grotesquery-interfered thread of fate until its very end, where it completely vanished, and I accidentally caught a glimpse of you.”
The old man extended a trembling hand. Just as Luo Ling thought he was about to use an ability, he pulled out a phone from his pocket, fumbled with it for a moment, and handed it to her.
The phone displayed a picture: a floor scattered with broken mirror shards, reflecting the fragmented image of a pale girl with a terrified expression.
“This is…”
Luo Ling recognized herself from that moment, but why was it on his phone?
“I drew it from memory. This old man studied oil painting in his younger days. Not bad, eh?” the old man said cheerfully. “This is the culprit who almost cost me my life. If I hadn’t captured the image, wouldn’t my suffering have been in vain?”
…She hadn’t expected him to preserve the memory this way.
“What deal?”
Luo Ling composed herself and asked.
“Join us, even if only temporarily,” the wrinkles on the old man’s face deepened as he spoke seriously. “We need you.”
“…Me?”
Luo Ling was taken aback. She was useful, but not to the extent that someone like him would… need her?
At least not now.
This felt like a recruitment pitch…
“I’ve glimpsed a more distant future, heh…and the injuries I sustained were no less severe than this time,” the old man turned slightly, gazing out the window at the setting sun. “I saw a future of despair, countless threads of fate severed at the same moment.
“Perhaps you, whose fate I cannot clearly see, can change this predetermined outcome.”
After hearing this, Luo Ling was silent for a moment, then asked, “Do you know what Grotesquery interfered with Wu Qin’s death?”
The old man didn’t expect Luo Ling to ask this question. He shook his head.
“If we knew, we wouldn’t be so helpless.”
He didn’t know about the Puppet Ballad!
A flicker of surprise flashed through Luo Ling’s eyes, but this time, she concealed it well.
Hearing the old man’s description, Luo Ling’s first thought was the Puppet Ballad, the High-Risk Grotesquery of Sequence Forty-Nine. Only it could cause such widespread devastation.
It was still dormant, but once it awakened…
The future of despair the old man had described might become reality.
“Do you have any other concerns? Speak your mind,” the old man said slowly. “I’ve asked the others to stay away from the ward for now. It’s just us here. You can ask for anything… within reason, of course.”
“Mm…” Luo Ling thought for a moment, then said cautiously, “A Grotesquery Sacred Relic? Around Sequence 200 would be fine.”
The Puppet Ballad was Sequence Forty-Nine, so asking for one around Sequence 200 wasn’t too much, right?
The old man’s eyes widened. She really wasn’t holding back.
He had seen people make unreasonable demands, but this was on a whole other level… She wasn’t even being remotely polite!
A Dangerous Grotesquery around Sequence 200 was a formidable opponent, even High-Order Awakened Ones had to be cautious when dealing with them, and facing one alone could be fatal.
Under normal circumstances, even a Grotesquery around Sequence 300 would be enough to make a Mid-Order Awakened One’s hair stand on end.
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