Monster - Chapter 55
Chapter 55: Legislator
Lin Sandie was very organized with her belongings, so it didn't take her long to find the scale-shaped brooch she had taken from her mother Zhao Zhi's effects.
The Scale Brooch was minimalist in design, only the size of a nickel. Its main colors were black, white, and dark gold. The edges were somewhat worn, and it looked as if it had been burned at some point. The two pans of the scale were black and white.
When Lou and Miu the crow saw the brooch, the color of their pupils immediately turned black as they scanned the item in Lin Sandie's hand.
Name: Legislator γ Symbol
Level: A-Class
It appears to be an ordinary scale-shaped brooch.
Positive Effect:
The holder of the Legislator Brooch can hold it to their chest and declare: "I decree in my name…" The words spoken will have the effect of law.
Negative Effect:
Wearing the brooch for an extended period will cause the user to uncontrollably see, hear, and feel certain hidden truths.
【Usage Rules】
1. Decrees must conform to the logic of and abide by existing published laws and regulations. They cannot violate or contradict any publicly established laws.
2. Personal decrees are valid for 1 month and cannot exceed the physical limits of the current society.
3. The effective range of a personal decree is a 30-kilometer radius centered on the user, affecting all citizens within it.
Lin Sandie watched as Lou's normally light-colored eyes turned black, becoming like obsidian, devoid of all emotion. "What are you looking at?" she asked.
"Want to play a game?" Lou's eyes blinked, returning to their original state.
"What game?"
"I'll tell you what I just saw first, but I have a request."
"What is it?"
"Lend me the brooch for three months."
"Alright." Lin Sandie thought for a moment, then nodded and handed the brooch to Lou. Before she died, Yan Ting had said that Lin Sandie's next destination might be Disorder Land. Although she didn't know what that place was like, Lin Sandie believed that if she were to join a new group, her belongings would certainly be searched.
Lou raised an eyebrow, surprised by Lin Sandie's ready agreement, and didn't immediately take the brooch.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing. I just thought you'd definitely be stingy and refuse," Lou said with a smile, taking the brooch.
"It's nothing. Given your attitude toward me, we'll settle this with loan shark interest." Lin Sandie sat down on the sofa, her words a sharp retort to Lou's.
"Caw, caw, caw!!" Miu the crow, who had been watching from the side, let out a bizarre, undignified laugh at her words.
Lou snorted, sat down next to Lin Sandie, and said, "Do you accept payment in the flesh?"
"No."
After relaying the information she had scanned from the Scale Brooch, Lou sat beside Lin Sandie, glanced at the living room clock, and then held the brooch that belonged to Lin Sandie. She declared solemnly, "I decree in my name: in three minutes, all citizens within a thirty-kilometer radius will no longer be allowed to purchase sugar-free milk tea."
Lin Sandie looked impassively at Lou sitting next to her. Her lips moved, but in the end, she said nothing.
"You try it, too. Although you verbally promised to lend me the brooch for three months, I'm not sure about the specific timing for its ownership transfer."
Lou pressed the brooch back into Lin Sandie's left palm. After a long moment of contemplation, Lin Sandie held the brooch to her chest. "I decree in my name, all citizens within a thirty-kilometer radius are not allowed to come within one meter of Lin Sandie."
The moment Lin Sandie finished speaking, Lou immediately felt an invisible force tugging at her, trying to drag her away from Lin Sandie. The force wasn't particularly strong, however. Lou slid off the sofa as if she had no bones, knelt on the floor, and hugged Lin Sandie's legs.
Lin Sandie looked down at Lou, her usually indifferent and restrained eyes sparkling brightly, like a child who had just received a fascinating new toy. She opened her mouth and continued,
"Violators will be punished."
As she clung to Lin Sandie's legs, Lou suddenly felt an invisible whip lashing her.
Lin Sandie saw a red welt appear on Lou's snow-white arm. Her eyelid twitched, and she immediately said, "The law is void."
As she spoke, Lou instantly felt the force pulling her away and the invisible whip disappear.
"How strange…" Lou knelt on the floor, stroking her chin in thought, completely unfazed by the whipping she had just received.
"Xu Siqian said before that Xu Yao left the brooch with her for a month. This suggests that it takes time for the brooch to change owners," Miu said.
"But the punishment I just received wasn't severe, and the force pulling me away from Lin Sandie wasn't that strong either."
"Is the effect of the law related to the owner's will?" Miu speculated. It hadn't sensed any killing intent from Lin Sandie toward Lou just now. In fact, it seemed the two of them were indeed using the brooch in the spirit of a game.
While Lou and Miu were having their private team discussion, Lin Sandie, who was sitting to the side and looking at the several red marks on Lou's arms and thighs, began to feel a pang of guilt. She nervously picked at the armrest of the sofa with her fingers, feeling that she shouldn't have treated her "benefactor" this way. After staring blankly for a moment, she got up to get the first-aid kit.
What kind of medicine do you apply for a whip lash? The moment her hand touched the first-aid kit, Lin Sandie started searching on her phone. She had a very serious personality. After some reading, she determined that simply disinfecting with iodine would suffice, though it seemed optional. When that invisible whip had struck Lou, she hadn't even raised an eyebrow.
"Lin Sandie~~" Just as Lin Sandie was lost in thought, Lou, who had walked up to her barefoot, gently blew a puff of air on her neck from behind. Lin Sandie immediately spun around, her brow furrowed.
"Want to play an even more fun game?" Lou asked, holding up "Xu Yao's Notebook," which she had taken from her space bag.
"What is this?"
"A notebook left behind by a girl named Xu Yao after she died. It has magical powers. Generally, these are important items from a Leviathan monster's life. After death, they become imbued with strong emotions and gain a certain vitality. They will use various means to return to the person who left the deepest emotional mark on the deceased, or to a person designated by the deceased's last will. If the deceased had no one they were deeply attached to, the item can be used by anyone. The effects of a Remnant vary from person to person. If used by someone the deceased detested, the Remnant will continuously emit negative effects." Lou recited the definition she had previously established for Remnants.
"Are you suspecting that the phone Yan Ting left behind also has magical powers?" Lin Sandie reasoned by analogy.
"Perhaps. The magic of a Remnant isn't always apparent from the start; it might take time to be scannable. I'm not sure if Yan Ting's phone is a Remnant, but it doesn't matter if it isn't. Her phone contains some information I need… Lin Sandie, your eyelashes seem denser than mine…" Lou, who had been staring at Lin Sandie, suddenly cupped her face, their noses almost touching.
Lou's face filled Lin Sandie's entire field of vision.
Lin Sandie swallowed uncontrollably, the image of Lou standing by her bed flashing through her mind again. She blinked, feeling that this was all too strange. It wasn't like she was a narcissist.
"Do you use any special products to care for them?" Lou pressed on, clearly bothered by it.
Lin Sandie shook her head and shoved a bottle of iodine disinfectant toward Lou's face. "Do you want to apply this or not?"
"No need for medicine. Just think of it as you whipping me," Lou said, glancing at the bottle's surface and grinning. "Don't you think it's kinky, Lin Sandie?"
Lin Sandie couldn't stand Lou's brazen words. Biting her lip, she took a deep breath and turned to put the iodine back in the first-aid kit. "Suit yourself."
"Here, write down a law. But this time, the law will apply to all of Center City, so it's best to make it something trivial." Lou squeezed in next to Lin Sandie. The two of them stood by the cabinet holding the first-aid kit. Lou handed a black pen to Lin Sandie. As she pressed against her, she shamelessly rubbed the back of her toes against Lin Sandie's calf.
"If we do that, it will be noticed no matter how trivial it is." Lin Sandie, standing with perfect posture, took the pen but was too cautious to write anything. "What other effects does this notebook have?"
Lou, who had flipped the notebook to a blank page, told Lin Sandie about its other effects, except for the one that stated, "After writing down a random person's name, there is a certain chance the notebook will reveal that person's secrets."
"It is indeed necessary to verify the notebook's abilities." Understanding and familiarizing oneself with the functions of one's items was essential. Otherwise, when a critical moment arrived, being unable to save oneself or missing an opportunity due to unfamiliarity would be foolish and passive.
Lin Sandie fell into thought. Beside her, Lou took out her phone and ordered milk tea.
"Can you order sugar-free?" Lin Sandie asked curiously.
"Yes. It seems the law I wrote didn't take effect." Lou ordered three cups of fresh milk tea—two with sugar for herself and Miu, and one without for Lin Sandie. "Have you thought of a law to write? Something no one else will know about, but we'll see the effect immediately."
"Yes." Lin Sandie put down the pen and walked toward her room. A moment later, she returned with a pair of black long johns.
"Hahahaha!" The moment Lou saw the long johns, she understood. She clutched her stomach, laughing. "Lin Sandie, you're hilarious!"
A corner of Lin Sandie's mouth turned up in a proud little smile. She tossed the long johns to Lou. "You wear them."
"Alright." Lou caught the long johns and, still in her pajamas, pulled them on.
Lin Sandie returned to the notebook, picked up the pen, and wrote: I decree in my name, after April 20th in Center City, all citizens are forbidden from wearing long johns. Violators will…
Lou, having finished putting on the long johns, walked over, snatched the pen from Lin Sandie, and wrote: …receive one lash of the whip.
"What punishment were you going to write?" Lou made a face at Lin Sandie. She had no desire to be punished and forced to leave Lin Sandie right now.
"Clean the streets for one hour." Lin Sandie glared at Lou, suspecting this crazy woman was a masochist.
"Anyway, I want to see if the punishment I wrote will take effect…" As she said this, her brow furrowed slightly.
"This is so uncomfortable, stuffy and hot." Lou looked down, pulling at the long johns that clung tightly to her thighs.
Lin Sandie saw that Lou's face was slightly flushed, and beads of sweat were forming on her forehead.
"Is there a whipping?"
"No."
"Take them off."
"This is so uncomfortable!" Lou quickly stripped off the long johns. "The level of discomfort feels much stronger than your verbal decree."
"In reality, written laws are also more effective," Lin Sandie noted. Seeing Xu Yao's notebook lying open, she asked, "Can I see what was written before?"
"Of course not." Lou closed the notebook.
Lin Sandie raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"Is Mom hiding something from me?" Lin Sandie leaned closer to Lou, her uninjured hand pressing against the cabinet, creating a pose that looked as if she were pinning Lou against it.
Lin Sandie didn't like constantly being in a passive position. She needed to solidify her own world order; she wouldn't let Lou so easily shatter her composure. Since Lou wanted to play house, then she would play along.
"I don't kiss." Lou crossed her arms in refusal, but her eyes were filled with anticipation as she looked at Lin Sandie.
"…Who wants to kiss you?"
"Then hug me." Lou turned the tables, pulling the distance between them even closer.
The two identical women stared at each other, eye to eye. In the end, Lin Sandie, being the more thin-skinned of the two, lost.
"I'm not hugging you!" The tips of Lin Sandie's ears burned. She turned to leave. "Fine, don't show me then. I'm going to pack. I have to go back to my hometown tomorrow."
If it weren't for the bizarre timing… next time, she swore to herself, she absolutely would not let Lou lead her by the nose again.
Lou watched Lin Sandie leave with a smile, then propped her chin on her hand and flipped through the first few pages of the notebook. Besides Yan Ting and Lin Sandie, several other citizens of Leviathan that Miu was interested in had been written down, including Sui Xi, Zhang Jun, and Kang Youyou.
However, most of the following pages had been written by Lou. In neat, elegant script, she had filled several pages entirely with: "Little Rabbit, Little Rabbit, Little Rabbit, Little Rabbit…"
"Oh, your name disappeared," Miu said.
Confused, Lou flipped back. She saw that where her own name had previously been listed with a 30% probability of being harmed by Lin Sandie, it was now gone. Yan Ting's name had also vanished. The only person Lin Sandie wanted to harm now was her younger brother, Lin Youceng, who had turned into a monster and murdered their parents.
"Lin Sandie is so cute~~ But it would be better if she were a little more proactive."
"Your chemistry is surprisingly good. Are you sure you two have never met before?"
"If we had, I'd definitely remember. This is my first time in Leviathan, too." Lou stroked the pages filled with "Little Rabbit," seeming somewhat distracted.
"Perhaps we can observe her further, see if she's suitable to be a Guide," Miu commented.
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