Chapter 63: Miss Knight, This is Called Getting Even p1
The darkness that had enveloped the sky finally began to dissipate. At the same time, the crimson crescent moon gradually dimmed until it vanished without a trace.
In its place, countless stars emerged, scattered across the sky above Victoria. The clear sky was devoid of clouds, revealing a boundless expanse of stars, as if one could reach out and pluck them from the heavens.
Elsa tilted her head back, her mouth slightly agape. She had clearly never seen such a beautiful and brilliant starry night, her face filled with wonder.
“Wow, what a beautiful sky…”
“It is beautiful.”
Luo Ling looked up at the stars, suddenly thinking of a girl very similar to herself. A faint smile appeared on her lips. “I feel… Stasha would really like this.”
This would be the place of that girl’s dreams, the girl who chased fireflies and starry skies.
“Who?”
Elsa paused, turning to look at Luo Ling.
She seemed to have heard an unfamiliar name from Miss Luo Ling…
Could it be… the older sister Miss Luo Ling just mentioned?
“A rather well-behaved girl, you wouldn’t know her,” Luo Ling replied, stroking Elsa’s hair.
“Ah, I don’t know her…”
Elsa’s expression changed slightly. Hearing those words, it seemed this Miss Stasha wasn’t even the sister mentioned earlier.
When did Miss Luo Ling meet another girl she didn’t know?
“I’m well-behaved too,” Elsa said, puffing out her cheeks.
Luo Ling was taken aback by Elsa’s reaction and chuckled helplessly. “Yes, yes, Elsa is very well-behaved too.”
Elsa nodded with satisfaction, enjoying Luo Ling’s caress.
But soon, she came to her senses, realizing something was amiss. “Wait, wasn’t it midday when we left the apartment? Why is it suddenly night?”
Elsa looked around, noticing the scenery seemed different from the area around their apartment. It was desolate, almost completely devoid of people.
Turning her head, Elsa was startled. The three-story apartment building was now just a frame, filled with tools, as if still under construction.
It was different from what she knew, yet also… not much different.
“Is this… Victoria?” Elsa couldn’t help but ask. “It feels familiar, but not quite…”
“Yes, this is Victoria, but… not the normal Victoria. It’s a Kingdom.”
Luo Ling sensed everything around her. She could vaguely grasp everything within this Kingdom, but it was like through a thin veil, a slightly awkward feeling, an indirect rather than direct control.
It was simple: she was the owner of this Kingdom, but… also not.
This was Linna’s Kingdom.
—The Kingdom, “Starry Victoria.”
Luo Ling was indirectly controlling this Kingdom through Linna, which was why it felt awkward. Although Linna had become a part of her, she still possessed her own consciousness.
However, she hadn’t expected Linna to acquire a Kingdom…
Miss Iris had emptied her pockets, incurred a mountain of debt, and even risked her life to barely seize Twilight Victoria.
Although this was partly because the Kingdom Miss Iris desired had to possess the characteristic of immortality and couldn’t be just any Kingdom, it was… still extremely valuable.
Don’t assume that because Victoria had experienced seventy-four collapses, there were seventy-four Kingdoms. In reality, most Boundary collapses didn’t form Kingdoms, and under certain conditions, an indefinite number of Kingdoms could be born.
The number of existing Kingdoms was unknown, but it certainly wasn’t very large.
Of course, not all Kingdoms were solely owned. More often, a group of Grotesquery Apostles shared a Kingdom. Victoria was large enough to accommodate millions of people.
Even though Kingdoms were different from the real world, with extremely limited resources, supporting tens of thousands of people wasn’t a problem.
“Kingdom?”
Elsa tilted her head, confused.
Although she had entered Iris’s Kingdom, Twilight Victoria, before, Iris had erased all her memories of being within the Kingdom before she left.
“You can think of it as an abnormal Boundary, born during a Boundary collapse, preserving a fragment of the Boundary at a specific point in time.”
Luo Ling explained the concept of a Kingdom to Elsa while checking on her teammates’ conditions.
Among the three injured teammates, Eve’s injuries were the most severe. Even though Luo Ling had made thorough preparations and immediately used Puppet Ballad’s first ability, Proliferation, to heal her, the loss of life force was real.
Streaks of grey now appeared in the Iron Fist maid’s hair, wrinkles formed at the corners of her eyes, and her skin had taken on a sallow hue.
Grotesquery abilities weren’t without a price. This was the result of Luo Ling suppressing the Puppet Ballad’s instincts and not devouring Eve’s flesh and blood. Under normal circumstances, after such treatment by the Puppet Ballad, one would be half-dead.
Miracles and magic weren’t free.
Of course, this aging wasn’t permanent. With time and care, her body could recover. However, for a while, Miss Eve would become Aunt Eve, or even Grandma Eve.
The essence of the Puppet Ballad was still Silent Demise, not Myriad. Luo Ling couldn’t replenish Eve’s life force.
“At least she’s alright,” Luo Ling breathed a sigh of relief, feeling somewhat reassured.
Surviving a surprise attack by a Ninth-Order Awakened One wielding an Authority was already fortunate. Expecting to be completely unharmed was wishful thinking.
Cen Xiangyun and Lu Manqing’s injuries were less serious. Cheng Jianming seemed to have held back. Cen Xiangyun suffered from ability backlash and scattered inspiration. Although she looked frightening with blood trickling from her orifices, it wasn’t fatal.
With treatment from a true Myriad Path Awakened One and a few days of rest, she should fully recover.
Compared to Cen Xiangyun, Lu Manqing’s condition was slightly more serious, but she had merely fainted from blood loss.
Cheng Jianming, as a professional killer, was precise with his attacks. Lu Manqing’s blood loss could also be recovered through recuperation.
Awakened Ones’ physiques were still far superior to ordinary humans, including their ability to recover from injuries.
However…
While examining Lu Manqing’s injuries, Luo Ling inadvertently noticed something unusual. A glint of silver caught her eye, coming from near Lu Manqing’s ankle.
Luo Ling crouched down, pulling up Lu Manqing’s pant leg. Her expression immediately turned serious. “This is… Wait, why does Lu Manqing have this?”
A plain metal ring encircled Lu Manqing’s ankle, looking strangely familiar to Luo Ling.
She pondered for a moment, then took a ring from her hair. Comparing the two, her expression darkened. “Identical… How could Lu Manqing have something belonging to the Gypsy Girl?
“Oh wait, the Gypsy Girl knew her father, Old Ji…”
If they knew each other, Old Ji might have called in a favor from the Speakers, just like the plant Fiona received, which could be given to others.
Lu Manqing’s ring might have been given to her by Old Ji.
However… Luo Ling always felt that Lu Manqing was somewhat mysterious, her abilities not quite resembling those of the Myriad Path.
Of course, Lu Manqing wasn’t a Grotesquery. Luo Ling’s judgment on this was extremely accurate.
But regardless, at least towards this team, Lu Manqing’s feelings were genuine.
After treating her teammates’ injuries, Luo Ling pondered what to do with them.
Elsa was a given. She couldn’t stay with the Company any longer. Since Linna had acquired a Kingdom, Elsa, as her Apostle, now had a place to belong.
Within Starry Victoria, Luo Ling and Linna were the absolute rulers.
As for the others…
Cen Xiangyun and Lu Manqing both had influential backgrounds. Many of Cen Xiangyun’s family elders were P8-level specialists in the Company, holding managerial positions in various branches, and one was even a P9 branch director.
It could be said that Cen Xiangyun had been tied to the Company since birth. This was also why Cheng Jianming hadn’t killed her.
Lu Manqing’s background was no less impressive. Before his abilities were crippled, her father, Old Ji, was one of the top Other Shore Path Awakened Ones outside the Speakers.
Even though Old Ji was crippled, her mother was still the P9 director of the Wellington branch. These close family ties were enough to spare Lu Manqing from Cheng Jianming’s sword.
Luo Ling didn’t intend to do anything with these two teammates. They had witnessed “Luo Ling’s death,” and they clearly saw the killer, Cheng Jianming.
Most importantly, their safety wasn’t Luo Ling’s concern. Their families would naturally make arrangements.
Besides, taking Cen Xiangyun and Lu Manqing with her would only cause more trouble.
The question was… what to do with the Iron Fist Maid, Eve?
Although Eve was a duke’s daughter in the real world, a true lady of high society, that was merely a worldly identity, holding little influence in the Awakened world.
Unless she was like Odeletta, a princess whose influence extended across a region, and in a delicate foreign land at that. If young Odeletta had died back then, it might have triggered many unnecessary incidents.
It might even have directly affected the Company’s plans. That was why Frick, the traitor of the Hunt team, wanted to protect Odeletta and help her escape.
“Eve…”
A glint flickered in Luo Ling’s eyes.
She had initially wondered why Cheng Jianming had targeted Eve first, not her or Elsa. She only understood after seeing Cheng Jianming take out the Purgatory larva.
It wasn’t because Eve posed a greater threat. For Cheng Jianming, a Ninth-Order Awakened One wielding an Authority-level Sacred Tool, there wasn’t much difference between a Seventh-Order and a lower-ranked Awakened One. They were all just one sword strike away from death.
Killing Eve first was simply to quickly activate the Purgatory larva and reform the Incubation Barrier.
…How similar to what happened back then.
Judging from this situation, the Company had likely initiated a Boundary collapse plan similar to the one from back then, to erase any irreversible mistakes.
Back then, the Company had made some unknown error, leading to the arrival of the “Immortality” Taboo disaster.
Then the Harbingers intervened, and Artist conducted his ascension ritual. In the end, the Company turned the tables, using the Boundary collapse to rectify their mistake and interrupting Artist’s ascension, severing his future.
Even when they went to Jiangcheng County, Artist still held a deep fear of the Company.
This reactivated plan forced Luo Ling to shift her attention from the Harbingers to the Company, re-evaluating the game being played in Victoria, wondering how many pieces each side still held hidden.
“To be safe, Eve can’t go back.”
Luo Ling extended her hand, fungal threads spreading across Eve’s body, dominating her flesh and blood.
Of course, Luo Ling didn’t intend to turn Eve into a Grotesquery like Linna, making her a part of herself.
To most Awakened Ones, Grotesqueries were terrifying monsters.
Even back then, Luo Ling had only resorted to such drastic measures to save Linna’s life, willing to do anything to bring her back. She had even prepared herself for Linna’s resentment.
Eve’s injuries weren’t so severe that she needed to become a Grotesquery to survive. Luo Ling naturally wouldn’t make such a decision on her own.
Nor could she casually reveal her identity to Eve. After all… Grotesqueries were Grotesqueries, humans were humans, and the difference between them was vast.
Not everyone was like Linna and Elsa, able to accept the fact that Luo Ling was a Grotesquery.
So Luo Ling used domination to sustain Eve’s life, keeping her consciousness dormant until her lost life force was restored.
Otherwise, if Eve returned in her current aged state, it would cause a lot of trouble, both for Luo Ling and Eve herself.
The Company wouldn’t overlook any clues related to Cheng Jianming’s death.
However… taking Eve away without a trace might also raise suspicions.
Luo Ling thought for a moment, and a… slightly mischievous idea came to mind. Even she found it a bit strange.
“Should I… impersonate Eve?”
Through this experiment, Luo Ling had more or less mastered the technique of using Proliferation to create clones. The fake Luo Ling she created was indistinguishable from the real one, even to Elsa, who was closest to her.
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