96 – String

Something is invading the body and moving towards the depths of the soul.

Some pure thing is violently trying to affect the consciousness, and has even seized control of the body.

Shui Yuner knows what it is…

“Phecda… what are you doing?”

Phecda didn’t respond.

‘Unforgivable… unforgivable. They want to take…’

She just repeated… repeated this sentence blindly.

What is unforgivable? Shui Yuner wanted to ask, but found that she cannot make any sound.

“Unforgivable! You want me to go back to that place!”

Phecda’s voice is no longer immature, no longer appears to come both from afar and from nearby. It just has a vague sense of distance.

Because she spoke through Shui Yuner’s mouth.

There’s something wrong… Supporting her forehead with a hand, Shui Yuner glanced at Phecda sword in her other hand from the corner of her eye.

She can’t let go. Phecda is stuck to her hand, as if it has become a part of her body.

“…”

Shui Yuner can only do her utmost to resist the invasion of the other party wordlessly.

“Shui Yuner, why do you resist me?”

Phecda related her doubt gently. She definitely sensed the girl’s resistance.

Hearing things said in her voice that don’t come from her, Sui Yuner tried to speak.

“That’s… enough.”

She squeezed out two words.

Despite the mouth belonging to her, she can only pronounce vague, unclear words with great effort.

“Enough… what’s enough?”

Shui Yuner’s head tilted without her prompt.

“The one surnamed Li attempted to separate us! That Ye Zhen also wants to separate us! They all want to separate us!”

Using Shui Yuner’s ethereal voice, Phecda calmly recounted the facts as well as…

Tried something dark.

“Therefore, they are all scoundrels.”

Phecda’s voice was full of suspicion, like a child asking an adult about what it finds curious.

“Don’t you think so?”

… Phecda, that’s just what you think.

Shui Yuner suddenly had a regret. I shouldn’t have brought her out.

Just as she felt helpless, a distinct peppermint fragrance assailed her nostrils.

The girl knows this fragrance. She smelled it before from a certain lass.

“Little Yun, put Phecda down.”

A spirited voice came from above.

She’s familiar with this voice.

Shui Yuner raised her head slowly and stiffly, and a pair of gold eyes met her gaze.

This pair of eyes looks somewhat different from how she remembers.

Vertical pupils are surrounded by gold, glowing with dim light.

… Just like cat eyes.

It is a pair of cat-like eyes.

Despite this, Shui Yuner immediately recognized their owner.

Shui Yuner’s awkward appearance is reflected in the eyes full of distress; covered in cold sweat, the long hair disheveled, and the clothes in a mess.

“If I had know something like this would happen… I…”

Shui Yuner heard intermittent whispers come from the lass’s small mouth.

I can’t hear clearly. What is she saying? Shui Yuner’s hearing gradually blurred.

Her consciousness is treading towards the abyss step by step.

“Little Yun, it’s alright… so…”

The lass smiled lightly.

It is an ugly smile.

Is she blaming herself? Shui Yuner’s understood this intuitively.

The limpid, speckles eyes penetrated deep into Shui Yuner’s heart.

“Will you give me the sword?”

The voice sounds like it is speaking to the abyss of Shui Yuner’s eyes.

The smile and the words carry a certain force, prompting Shui Yuner to try to move the hand holding the sword and hand Phecda over.

However…

“No! You are a bad person!”

The words of refusal flowed out of Shui Yuner’s mouth.

“Shui Yuner, even you will abandon me?”

Disappointment and sorrow filled the voice.

Xue Qilin was stunned for a moment, then had a realization, and narrowed her eyes.

“You are… Phecda?”

Phecda ignored Xue Qilin’s question. She continued to use Shui Yuner’s mouth to voice her thoughts.

“She’s deceiving you! Look, she has a weapon in her hand! She wants to kill you just like everyone else!”

As Phecda has mentioned, Xue Qilin is holding a frighteningly large sword in her hand.

The large sword is glowing with a cold, overcast light.

Stop it… stop it… Shui Yuner’s mind is a mess.

However, her voice was not conveyed to Phecda.

“Did you forget? How she hid things from you? How she talked drivel? ‘Magic’, I never heard of it! Such a thing doesn’t exist! She lied to you!”

Phecda spoke urgently.

However, what she said doesn’t seem to be false.

Never heard of “magic”? Even Phecda who has existed for a long time doesn’t know what “magic” is? Shui Yuner stared at Xue Qilin in a daze.

The lass just frowned and stood there.

Why aren’t you saying anything? Is it really just like Phecda said, did you lie to me? Shui Yuner can no longer ask these questions.

What Shui Yuner doesn’t know is that the lass is just absorbed in the surprise and worry that came with finding out that her body is controlled by Phecda.

At least, she didn’t know at the time.

“Did you forget how you were betrayed before? What did you do at that time? Didn’t you kill the other party? So…”

Sensing that the girl is wavering inside, Phecda carried on.

It was clearly her voice, but it was full of an irresistible charm.

“Kill her!!”

No, no! Shui Yuner pressed her head with one hand and roared loudly in her heart.

“No?” Phecda said, puzzled, “Then why are you squeezing her neck?”

What is she saying? Whose neck am I squeezing? Shui Yuner looked blankly.

At some point, her fair hand has grabbed the lass’s delicate neck.

Squeezing hard, Shui Yuner finger tips turned purple and sunk into the other party’s neck.

However, the lass just looked at her sadly, not saying a word.

The gold eyes closed quietly.

“It’s okay, Little Yun. Give me the sword – you have to believe me.”

Xue Qilin said in a clear tone with a smile.

What’s wrong with me? Why did I grab her neck? Am I trying to kill her? Shui Yuner doesn’t know what to do. A dark emotion that doesn’t fully belong to her is running rampant inside her, disturbing her mind and disrupting her thoughts.

“Are you going to believe her? Shui Yuner, are you going to believe her? Are you going to abandon me? You mustn’t! Kill her, kill her, kill everyone! None of them is to be believed, they all want to separate us!”

Phecda’s words kept echoing in Shui Yuner’s head, causing a stabbing pain.

As for Xue Qilin, she just quietly gazed at Shui Yuner with a look of hope and expectation in her eyes.

There was a ringing.

Shui Yuner slowly raised Phecda.

Stop! She quickly restrained her out of control hand.

‘You really forgot!’

An indignant voice sounded directly in her mind.

Phecda no longer spoke through Shui Yuner’s mouth.

‘You want to abandon me! We had an agreement!’

Phecda is angry.

… As if the flood gates opened…

Some dark thing violently tore at Shui Yuner and blurred her consciousness.

At this moment, in Shui Yuner’s eyes, the faces of the people from the State Guard and that person superimposed on Xue Qilin.

Kill her, kill her, kill her, kill her, kill her, kill her…!

Snap…!

The sound of a string snapping echoed in her mind.

The girl’s consciousness fell apart and sank into darkness.

What remained was only one feeling and Phecda’s will.