Monster - Chapter 49
Chapter 49: A Distance Unknown to Them
"Goodbye, Little Police Flower. It's a shame you have 'bottom' written all over you, otherwise I'd want to play house with you too." Lou got into the car driven by Sui Xi's secretary, Xu Gao, and waved goodbye to Xing Meilu, whose face was as black as the bottom of a pot.
Xing Meilu remained expressionless, silently giving her the middle finger. Sui Xi, standing beside her, smiled and waved at Lou. Since Lou was rather seriously injured, Sui Xi had her secretary, Xu Gao, take her to the hospital first.
"Ms. Sui, even with your guarantee, Lou must still face judgment and punishment," Xing Meilu said to Councilor Sui beside her, her expression serious as she watched Xu Gao drive away with Lou.
Xing Meilu wasn't the type to yield to power. Justice was justice, and evil was evil. In her eyes, Lou was evil.
"I understand. Even if you do nothing, others will still judge her as an Outsider," Sui Xi said with a smile, making a comment Xing Meilu didn't quite understand. "How is your investigation into Xu Yao coming along?"
The reason Xing Meilu was investigating Xu Yao wasn't because Lou had leaked information, nor did it have anything to do with Lin Sandie. Rather, "Glory Road" had provided the information. However, this had also led Yan Ting's side to suspect a connection between Lin Sandie and Lou, plunging Lin Sandie into a terrible vortex from which she could only struggle desperately.
"The information Xu Yao left behind was most likely given to that old woman, Xu Siqian. But Xu Siqian has been taken by Lou, and I was just about to question her."
"I see. I'll contact Lou. Please, take this." Sui Xi held out a brooch to Xing Meilu. It was only about the size of a dime and was shaped like a sword and shield.
"What is this?" Xing Meilu asked curiously as she took it.
"It will allow you to see the truth of this world. As for whether Lou is evil, you can make your judgment in a month. You can call me anytime then. But don't let anyone else know about this brooch, or your life will be in danger."
"What exactly is this brooch?"
"A Leviathan Ruler Brooch. Code name: ω (Note 1)"
As soon as Xu Gao started the car, Lou leaned forward from the back seat and said, "If you see a 24-hour convenience store, please pull over."
"Where's the item?" Xu Gao asked.
Lou handed the recorder with the "monster stories" to the stern-faced man in the front seat.
"Thank you," Xu Gao said as he took it. "What are your thoughts on them?"
"Hmm... including Aphra's story from before, I think mutating into a monster has something to do with a certain emotion." Lou leaned back, watching the receding storefronts with a distracted air. It was already late into the night, and very few shops were still open.
"Aphra fell for her stepsister. What kind of emotion is that?" Xu Gao thought about the high school girl named Aphra that Lou had mentioned. Her mother had married Mira's father, making Mira her sister, but Aphra had always had a secret crush on Mira.
"Despair?" Lou answered, rubbing her chin. "After all, if they became sisters, society would never accept those kinds of feelings. Did Aphra feel despair?"
"Despair turns people into monsters?" Xu Gao frowned.
"That's my feeling. But isn't analysis your job? Turn around here. I want to go to the hospital where Lin Sandie is."
Xu Gao followed Lou's command and turned the car toward Lin Sandie's hospital.
"There's a 24-hour convenience store up ahead. Stop and let me buy something," Lou ordered again.
"Although the councilor had Xing Meilu let you go for now, it doesn't mean you won't face judgment. I suggest you keep a low profile and stay in the Black Goat Walled City for a while."
"I know what I'm doing."
"What do you need to buy? I can get it for you," Xu Gao asked patiently, remembering his employer's instructions.
"No need."
Lou insisted, so Xu Gao had no choice but to park in front of the convenience store. Lou got out, went inside, browsed for a bit, then bought a few things and got back in the car.
"What did you buy?" Seeing that Lou didn't seem to be carrying anything, even Xu Gao's poker face couldn't help but show a hint of curiosity.
Lou held up a ballpoint pen. Its barrel was striped white and gold, and on top of the cap was a very cute little rabbit.
"...I'll take you to the hospital," Xu Gao decided, resolving not to ask Lou any more questions.
"Why are you so fixated on rabbit-related things? Does a rabbit-shaped object have some connection to your first Guide?" Miu the crow asked curiously, having seen Lou immediately buy a replacement after her rabbit charm was broken. Could it be that Lou's first Guide's code name was Little Rabbit, and she was actually shaped like a rabbit?
In the few months they had been together, it had discovered that no matter where Lou went or what she did, she always had to carry a rabbit-shaped item with her. And if that item was ever accidentally broken, Lou would instantly become like a different person.
"None of your business." Lou held the newly bought pen to her ear, as if the little rabbit could speak to her. She settled into the back seat, holding the pen between her ear and shoulder. Then she took out a new plastic bag, tilted her head, and placed the rabbit phone charm that Kang Yi had broken inside before carefully putting it back in her pocket.
After holding the new rabbit pen to her ear for a good while, Lou seemed to come to some sort of conclusion. She pursed her lips and put the pen in her pocket as well.
"I'm so tired. I need healing," Lou sighed, throwing herself back against the seat.
"What you need is medical treatment," Miu the crow rolled its eyes. It had recovered a little bit of its spiritual energy and had actually been casting a healing spell on Lou this whole time, but it found the effect was next to nothing. It didn't know if it was because this Dark Sentinel was just too bizarre or what.
After dropping Lou off at Lin Sandie's hospital, Xu Gao thoughtfully used his own Citizen ID to get Lou a room at a nearby hotel, reminding her to clean the blood off herself before doing anything to Lin Sandie.
Lou, who had originally planned to barge straight into Lin Sandie's room, took his gentle reminder to heart. She first went to the hotel room to wash up. After getting herself cleaned up, she expertly snuck into the hospital's staff office and swiped a nurse's uniform to change into.
It was unclear if Yan Ting had bought out the entire hospital room, but Lin Sandie was the only one in it now. When Lou entered, Lin Sandie was sleeping soundly, her back to the door.
"I need healing, Lin Sandie," Lou, wearing a mask, whispered in greeting. She walked to the side of Lin Sandie's bed and lifted the thin blanket covering her, wanting to crawl in. Ever since meeting Lin Sandie, she had felt that the other woman had a special scent that haunted her dreams.
Perhaps it was because Lin Sandie had the constitution of a Guide, and the pheromones she emitted were exactly to her liking. Or maybe Lin Sandie simply possessed a charm that attracted her, a lesbian. Lou couldn't say for sure, but she didn't plan on overthinking it.
Just as Lou was about to climb into the bed, an angry rabbit suddenly appeared in her mind. It scolded her, yelled at her, forbidding her from casually crawling into the bed of a woman she didn't know well.
"I listened to you before, and you still didn't come back! I'm not going to listen to you this time!" Lou started arguing with the angry rabbit, a rare expression of loathing appearing on her usually smiling face.
One of Lou's knees was already on Lin Sandie's bed. The rabbit in her mind argued even more fiercely, cursing at her.
"Do you have any idea how long I've been looking for you!" Lou flailed her arms, filled with resentment. "Didn't I already apologize? You stupid rabbit!"
...
"I get it, I get it!" Lou suddenly relented. She ran her hands through her hair in frustration, looking exactly like a rebellious teenage girl, a lunatic, a mental patient.
It was the first time Miu the crow had seen this side of her, and it trembled in fear. Lou wasn't speaking aloud, but the expressions on her face were complex and ever-changing: sorrow, fear, remorse, sadness, fanaticism...
Sentinels could easily fall into a state where they were cut off from the outside world. This state could be singular or a collection of many. The reasons for their formation were bizarre and varied, but the most common causes were related to a Sentinel's childhood experiences or a Guide they had partnered with. Later in life, it could be triggered by a sudden unrealistic idea, a certain attachment, a particular thought, or even a mistaken belief—in short, any number of strange possibilities.
It was said that there was once a Sentinel who became bedeviled with watching leaves. He would stare at the leaves on a tree without eating or drinking, like a lost soul.
This state was called being "Bedeviled." They would become immersed in their own world, unable to pull themselves out. Only a Guide could lead them out of a bedeviled state.
If no Guide woke them, they would remain trapped in their bedeviled state. Some would die from mental exhaustion, while others, having fallen into too many deep bedeviled states, would constantly switch between various states until they finally broke down, went insane, and became monsters or madmen.
Records about Sentinels in the Main World told of a very powerful Sentinel who, after constantly falling into various bedeviled states with no Guide to pull him out, burned himself to death in a fit of madness beside the tombstone of his long-dead partner.
Very few Sentinels could actively break free from this state without a Guide.
Just now, when Miu saw Lou suddenly fall into a frenzied bedeviled state, it was already thinking about how to pull her out. But in the blink of an eye, Lou seemed to have broken free of the state on her own. She tucked Lin Sandie's blanket back in, no longer thinking of doing anything improper to her.
It was an eye-opener for Miu. So this asshole Lou with her terrible personality also had bedeviled moments she couldn't control. And she was already strong enough to break free from it on her own...
"Is your bedeviled state because of your first partner?" Miu asked cautiously.
Lou didn't need a Guide. She had never been infatuated with any Guide's pheromones. She had told Xu Siqian and the others that she wasn't suited for a long-term relationship, but Miu knew that even in the Main World, anyone who pursued Lou hoping for a long-term romance never got anywhere. Lou's personality was terrible, which certainly made many Guides unwilling to work with her. But she was also strong—strong enough to make most people forgive her flaws. Yet she remained all alone.
Sentinel-Guide partnerships were all about compatibility. Lou always hastily teamed up with other Guides for missions on the recommendation of her superiors, only to quickly part ways afterward. Guides who had just lost their Sentinels might cooperate with her for a short time, but the best way to survive was always to find a long-term partner.
Lou never had a long-term partner. Miu didn't know if Lou was telling the truth about being a Sentinel for 483 years, but if the information it had gathered was true, then Lou must have been incredibly lonely and miserable all these years.
"You don't need to worry about it. I can break free from my bedeviled states on my own." Lou waved a hand dismissively. She grabbed a clean blanket from a cabinet near the entrance, and instead of crawling into Lin Sandie's bed, she lay down on the empty bed next to it.
Pulling the blanket around herself, Lou curled up and ignored Miu, cursing inwardly, "Stupid rabbit! Stupid rabbit! Stupid rabbit! Stupid rabbit..."
As she cursed, tears welled up in her eyes. She fell into another bedeviled state, curling herself into an even tighter ball. Once again, she took the rabbit pen from her pocket and held it to her ear, just as she had for the hundreds of thousands of days and nights since the little rabbit had left her. Every day, she would press a rabbit-shaped object to her ear, hoping the little rabbit that had disappeared would speak to her again.
In her sleep, Lin Sandie's brow was tightly furrowed. She was in the Aztec Tower World, currently trying to pull Little Fool off another boy. The child was beating someone from the Maple Bud Tribe again for being possessive over food, and it was driving Lin Sandie mad.
"There's plenty more! Are you trying to kill me with anger?" Lin Sandie, in her Spirit Separation state, held the relentlessly struggling Little Fool tightly in her arms. Lin Sandie suspected that if she stayed in Aztec much longer, this little brat would stress her out so much her hair would turn white overnight.
"It's not because he ate my bun! It's because he touched Little Rabbit's ear! He's not allowed to touch it! Only I can! @#¥#...¥%..." Little Fool heard Lin Sandie's thoughts. She argued while struggling to go back to hitting the boy, who was now crying loudly, all while spewing a stream of foul Aztec curses.
She was smart, but her personality was also quite terrible. Even after making the other kid cry, she refused to stop. She was the kind of child who would bully others relentlessly.
"What do you mean, your bun! I'm the one who made it!" Lin Sandie was growing increasingly irritable, her words losing their coherence.
"#@¥...&...#@¥ If you dare touch Little Rabbit again, I'll break your hands!"
"If you cause any more trouble, you're not getting any food for three days!!!"
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