VAP - Chapter 150
Chapter 150: The Intersection of Illusion and Reality (15)
The abilities of the two consciousnesses were actually completely different.
Yue Du had once guessed that they both used illusions. It was just that Gluttony needed to absorb the prey’s energy, while Jealousy directly applied the prey’s energy to the illusion—different paths leading to the same result. But her line of speculation had been wrong from the very beginning.
Only Jealousy could utilize illusions.
Gluttony’s ability had been tacitly hidden by them. She didn’t have the power to control illusions. For her prey, she did only one thing: devour.
Forgoing flesh and bone, what she could devour was the soul.
Souls were treated as food, dissolved into the nutrients Gluttony needed for daily sustenance, leaving behind only a blank shell of a body. How could it possibly live?
Gluttony didn’t need to deliver a finishing blow to her prey, nor would she act carelessly. After all, whenever she used her ability, she had to eat something. This was a power born specifically for taking lives.
That was why she couldn’t let her sister know.
On countless occasions, Gluttony had stared at the sparkling, fragrant soul within Yue Du’s shell, her craving so intense the root of her tongue went numb and her throat went dry. But in the end, she never dared to release even a sliver of her power to have a taste, terrified that if she lost control for a moment, she would take too big a bite.
She was even more afraid that Yue Du would distance herself because of this, realizing she wasn’t harmless. Long before meeting Yue Du, Gluttony had devoured countless souls, both Scarlet Beast and human. Her subconscious told her that Yue Du wouldn’t like that.
“Tsk, do you think Sister can guess how many people I’ve eaten?” Jealousy said, a look of eager excitement on her face. Although she said “I,” everyone knew the “I” she spoke of was Gluttony.
Gluttony retorted coolly, “And are the people I’ve trapped to death with illusions any fewer?”
Each held leverage over the other, each had things they didn’t want that person to know. Two pairs of pure black eyes met, confirming with blank expressions: Let’s fight first and talk later.
Across the deep pool, Devouring and Illusion acted upon each other’s consciousness simultaneously, a true enactment of devouring oneself and trapping oneself, a bloody storm raging between their minds.
But in the end, they were the same existence, their abilities nearly identical. No matter how much they wanted to see the other suffer, no matter how much they wanted to gain the upper hand in this bloodless war, they could only end up in a stalemate.
After an unknown amount of time, they both stopped simultaneously.
After two displeased huffs, Jealousy snapped her fingers. Gluttony, not wanting to be like her, simply raised an arm. With their actions, the mental space slowly returned to its previous state. Within two minutes, it had once again become that mirror-like paradise on earth. The animals were no exception; seeing their lively and spirited appearances, who could have imagined that just two minutes ago, there wasn’t a single living creature here.
…Of course, they couldn’t be considered living creatures now, either.
Gluttony turned around, ignoring her other self, and prepared to leave the mental space.
Jealousy chuckled lightly. “Are you prepared for everything to be exposed to Sister?”
Gluttony: “I could ask you the same thing.”
Before her words had even faded, her figure vanished from the spot without hesitation.
Like a scorpion that had retracted its stinger, Jealousy waved her hand nonchalantly, letting the white mist once again shroud the deep pool and its surroundings, hiding the unpleasant scenery on the other side.
“I hope it happens a little later,” she muttered to herself.
However, that very day, the Main System showed Jealousy what it meant for things to go against one’s wishes.
The main quest—Explore the Host’s Mental Space—was issued without any warning that evening. At that moment, Ji You was just about to pester her sister into trying something new, but when the Main System’s mechanical voice sounded, her heart instantly sank.
Yue Du was also helpless. “Why would it issue a quest like this?”
The host had been so evasive that anyone could tell there was something strange about her mental space. Yue Du had originally thought it didn’t matter whether she looked or not. After spending decades with Ah Jiu, this little bit of indulgence was nothing.
But once the quest was issued, she had no choice but to ask.
Gluttony: “…”
Jealousy: “…”
We hope something bad happens to the Main System, thank you.
Issuing a quest to just take a stroll through the mental space would have been one thing. At least the wall of mist was thick, and as long as Ji You didn’t deliberately disperse it, no one could see what lay behind it. As long as the mist remained, the place was a standard forest paradise.
But exploring was different. That meant turning the place upside down!
Yue Du looked at the suddenly deflated Ji You and raised an eyebrow. “Want to take me in for a look? There shouldn’t be anything you need to set up in advance, right?” After saying this, she found it a bit amusing herself, and the corners of her mouth lifted slightly.
Gluttony’s gaze shifted slightly. “Ahem, of course not. But it’s so late today. Sister should rest first. We can discuss it tomorrow.”
Yue Du glanced at the sky outside.
It was indeed getting dark, but what modern person would go to sleep right after nightfall? Yue Du turned back to look at Ji You. Her left cheek read “nervous,” and her right cheek read “oh no.” It seemed even her earlier desire to try something new had been extinguished.
Yue Du couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
Ji You stared at her resentfully.
Yue Du felt she should offer some guidance. “The scenery in a mental space is no big deal. I’ve seen battlefields covered in blood and bone fragments and remained perfectly calm. I even thought it was a little cool. You don’t need to be nervous.”
Ji You muttered, “This is different from that.”
Yue Du: “You… you’re always like this. My psychological fortitude is very strong, don’t worry.”
Ji You kept her head down, sulking. Yue Du blinked and was just about to cup her face and coax her when her wrist was grabbed in a reverse grip.
Ji You put on a show of looking at the wall clock and said seriously, “Ah, it’s already so late! The coming-of-age ceremony yesterday was so tiring. You need to rest well, Sister!”
Yue Du, who was swept up into a princess carry, taken back to the bedroom, and then had the lights forcibly turned off: “…” You’re something else.
The next day, however, Ji You acted out of character and brought up the mental space exploration quest herself.
Yue Du asked, “Have you decided?”
Ji You said with righteous conviction, “I’ll listen to whatever Sister says.”
As if she wasn’t the one who had been spouting nonsense with a straight face yesterday.
Seeing her look as if she had a plan, Yue Du didn’t say much more. She sat to the side and closed her eyes. A stream of silver-blue data flowed in, materializing Yue Du’s form within Ji You’s mental space.
This was the latest Yue Du had ever entered a host’s mental space.
Everything before her was beyond her expectations. The forest paradise and the outside world, which had been rendered and transformed by the Scarlet Beasts’ psyche, were two complete extremes. One was overly bizarre and gloomy, the other overly ethereal and dreamlike. If this was all there was to it, Ji You would have had no reason to hide it—in fact, she might have even invited her in every now and then for a romantic, secluded date.
Yue Du’s gaze swept over the temple, over the dark and ancient trees, and finally landed on the thick white mist at the edge. She raised an eyebrow.
Ji You—Gluttony—held her hand and said with a smile, “Sister noticed?”
Yue Du: “What’s over there?”
Gluttony didn’t answer right away. She waited a moment, confirming that the quest completion notification wouldn’t sound, then sighed and said, “There’s nothing much to see, it’s all the same stuff. But it’s fine if Sister wants to take a look.”
Facing the wall of mist, she raised her voice. “Hey—you over there!”
A voice with an identical timbre responded from the other side, “What are you saying? A child should have some manners.”
Along with this voice, the wall of mist slowly dispersed. Yue Du met the host’s eyes. Those deep black pupils curved slightly, filled with a smile and affection.
“Welcome, Sister.”
Standing before a mirror-image forest, Jealousy opened her arms to Yue Du. Her tone was soft and full of longing. When she spoke the word “Sister,” it was as if she were uttering the most beautiful and precious syllables in the world.
Yue Du was very calm.
She turned her head to look at Gluttony, then turned back to carefully examine the scenery on Jealousy’s side, and said with the same calm, “It’s all the same?”
Gluttony: “Yes, it’s all the same.”
After a moment’s pause, the mechanical notification still didn’t sound.
Yue Du asked, “Can I go over?”
Jealousy: “Of course. Sister can go wherever she wants.”
Behind Yue Du, Gluttony shot Jealousy a sidelong glance.
Jealousy acted as if she hadn’t seen it, her smile perfectly sincere.
She leaned down and tapped the surface of the deep pool lightly. A layer of translucent, whitish ice spread across the pool, forming a solid ice path connecting the two sides.
Yue Du quickly stepped onto it. Just as she was about to reach the other side, she raised a hand to take Jealousy’s outstretched arm and landed lightly in her embrace.
Gluttony stood unmoving on the other side. After steadying herself, Yue Du turned to look at her. “You can’t come over?”
Gluttony was a little dejected. “That’s right. I can only stay on my side.”
Jealousy nodded in agreement.
Yue Du casually patted Jealousy’s shoulder as a gesture of comfort, but for Gluttony, this had the opposite effect. Her little expression became even more aggrieved.
Yue Du explored the forests on both sides, not even sparing the most remote small shrine in the temple complex. As for things like repeatedly checking the passing rabbits and stepping over the streams along the way, she did plenty of that too. The only thing left was to inspect Ji You herself.
But the quest completion notification was stubbornly silent.
Yue Du keenly noticed that the host’s two consciousnesses exchanged a look, then averted their gazes just before she looked over.
Their faces clearly read, “I have a guilty conscience.”
“Are there any hidden areas?” Yue Du stopped wandering around, stood at attention, and asked the host with a beaming smile.
While Gluttony was still silent, Jealousy spoke up first without any pressure. “Yes, there’s a hidden state, but it requires both of us to activate it.”
Jealousy, who had wheedled a coming-of-age gift out of Yue Du, showed no loyalty at all, selling out her other self in a heartbeat.
Jealousy was truly a saboteur. Gluttony was stunned for half a second, then decisively followed suit. “If Sister wants to see it, we can open it right now.”
In a daze, Yue Du felt a bit like a government official who had come to fleece the common folk…?
A moment later.
Three figures stood amidst bare, bizarrely shaped dead trees, a river that seemed to flow with blood, and a land of scorched earth, falling into a deep silence.
Looking at the host’s expression, Yue Du felt she needed to say something.
“This scenery is quite normal, not much different from the outside world. If I had to say, it’s the paradise version that doesn’t match the style of this small world, right?”
Jealousy said cautiously, “Obviously, no one likes the world as it is now.”
Yue Du: “So?”
Jealousy answered quickly, “No, it’s nothing.”
She was determined not to talk about this anymore.
The two consciousnesses looked at each other and breathed a subtle sigh of relief, both thinking they had escaped disaster for the day.
But the Main System was clearly a real bastard. Even at this point, the quest was still not considered complete.
Yue Du slowly strolled around again, stopping thoughtfully before the temple complex on Jealousy’s side.
“Speaking of which, I’ve been a little curious for a while now… Ah Jiu’s ability…”
Jealousy, Gluttony: “…”
Main System, please have an accident, thank you!
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