Monster - Chapter 116
Chapter 116: Dream Castle - Underground
"Are you hurt?" The two left the compartment, which was drenched in flesh and water, and continued walking. Lin Sandie, walking behind, asked Lou, who was lighting the way with a flashlight.
After leaving the compartment, the rest of the path was completely dark, the power cut off by the castle's collapse. They could only rely on the flashlight's beam. Lou was splattered with so much blood that Lin Sandie couldn't tell if she was injured.
"His bones probably cut my back. It's not too serious. I'll take a look later. I just heard a muffled sound from the direction we came from. The underground tunnels might be starting to collapse. We should get out of here first."
Lin Sandie turned on the flashlight on her phone and aimed it at Lou's back. Sure enough, she saw a palm-length gash near her heart. The fabric there was also torn, revealing the flesh beneath.
"I'm not used to working with people. Otherwise, I would have thought of the gun you just got." Lou didn't seem to dwell on her injury, instead trying to save face.
"Why do you think Tree tried to stop you here? Your fight didn't even last five minutes. He should have known he couldn't kill you in that form, right?" Lin Sandie turned off her flashlight, ignoring Lou's comment and voicing her own question instead.
"Hmm... what do you think?" Lou thought for a moment and asked Lin Sandie in return.
"That Pie you're always talking about—has She told you anything about Tree?" Lin Sandie tried to gather more information.
"She said before that I was the second person to use the codename Lou within a thousand years. I asked her who the first one was, and She only replied that the first Lou became bedeviled, and told me to take it as a warning."
"Unfortunately, I've probably disappointed Her too." Lou said this very quietly, but Lin Sandie still heard it.
So Tree was once a Sentinel from the Main World. Becoming bedeviled is truly the greatest enemy of Sentinels... Lou hasn't bothered to remember any details about Tree's personality. I don't know if her arrogance is an act or if she's just forgotten. Her condition seems a bit off lately, like how she didn't think of using my new Thunder Gun just now, or how she tried to seduce me at such an inappropriate time when we first entered the tunnel...
Lin Sandie's thoughts stalled for a moment. She swallowed, then said, "Cheng Gui said before that Tree doesn't like to kill directly, but prefers to slowly torture his prey to death. So I think he might have a mischievous side. But I don't believe it was just a simple prank. So I wonder, did Tree appear this time to check on your condition?"
"Condition? What condition?"
"I don't know," Lin Sandie paused. "You're his prey. What kind of condition would a hunter who enjoys pranks check on his prey? You would probably know better than me."
"Hmm..." Lou rubbed her chin, thinking for a while. "I'll be careful."
The two continued forward in the dark tunnel. Lin Sandie felt like she was being buried alive. The temporary loss of her sense of direction and the passage of time made her uneasy. Fatigue and hunger also began to overwhelm her. Since entering Thriller Paradise this morning, her nerves had been stretched taut. She had witnessed Saya go on a killing spree, blowing people to pieces, then met Cheng Gui and reached the Dream Castle, getting significantly injured along the way. It was now past three in the morning, and she hadn't rested at all. She hadn't eaten in seven or eight hours.
After walking for more than an hour, they saw that the path ahead was blocked by collapsed rocks.
"Are we going to be buried alive in here?"
"Uh, it won't come to that. It'll just take some time to clear these rocks. Let's rest for a bit first." Lou saw Lin Sandie's listlessness and the increasingly dark circles under her pretty eyes, and suddenly felt a little guilty.
By the light of the flashlight, Lin Sandie looked around. The place where they were seemed relatively safe.
"Okay." Lin Sandie sat on a nearby fallen rock and activated a light screen. Her expressionless face was cast in a ghastly green by its cold glow.
Lou, on the other hand, took out a camping lantern and put away the flashlight.
Thinking Lin Sandie was about to take out food, Lou was all ready for it, but to her surprise, Lin Sandie took out gauze and disinfectant.
"Can I look at the wound on your back?" Lin Sandie asked.
"Oh, it's not that serious, really. I heal faster than ordinary people." Lou said, but she still obediently turned around, her back to Lin Sandie, and took off her top.
Lin Sandie first washed her hands with water, then carefully disinfected them with alcohol, before looking at the gruesome wound on Lou's back.
By the light of the camping lantern, Lin Sandie could see the scars on Lou's back more clearly. Besides some that had already healed, the flesh around the gruesome wound near her heart was peeled back, as if it had been violently gouged open by a blunt object, making it look even more horrific than a clean cut from a sharp blade.
Hearing no words or further action from Lin Sandie, Lou swallowed, suppressed a sudden wave of nervousness, and said brazenly, "Good thing I'm pretty and have a great personality, so I don't have to worry about being unwanted. Otherwise, with all these scars, any normal girl would definitely be worried."
"I'll disinfect it for you first." Lin Sandie came back to her senses and very gently disinfected the wound on Lou's back.
"It's really nothing, just a small cut that doesn't even need stitches..." Lou mumbled, obviously accustomed to such "minor injuries."
Lin Sandie ignored her, insisting on disinfecting the wound, applying medicine, and covering it with gauze. She then had her change into a new set of clothes before she was satisfied.
By the time all this was done half an hour later, while Lin Sandie was packing things up, Lou had already taken out some water and bread and started eating.
Lin Sandie also took out a bottle of mineral water and two slices of bread, and sat beside Lou, eating quietly.
"It's normal that your stamina isn't great right now. That requires long-term training. But later, when you go to the Main World and start taking on missions, you can exchange points for some potions for that," Lou, full of energy, started chatting with Lin Sandie, not a hint of fatigue on her face. "I've looked at the shop here before. There are some items for it, but they're similar to stimulants. In the long run, they do more harm than good to the body..."
"Thud." The bottle of water Lin Sandie was holding suddenly dropped to the ground. Since the cap wasn't on, water gurgled out of the opening.
Lou looked sharply at Lin Sandie to find she had fallen asleep right there on the rock, halfway through her meal. Her pink hair fell forward, hiding her face in shadow.
Lin Sandie was exhausted...
Lou set the fallen water bottle upright, then spread a thin blanket in a corner, her mind replaying Lin Sandie's every move over the past few days.
Following her and Little Crow, Lin Sandie was always tense, desperately trying to keep pace with her, as if she wanted to prove something.
She could probably be a bit more fragile, a bit more reliant on me. There's no shame in that. After all, I'm a Sentinel who's been active across Tower Worlds for centuries, while Lin Sandie is just an ordinary person in her twenties. It's perfectly normal for her to rely on me.
But Lou didn't want to crush her spirit. Saying "You don't have to do all those things" would completely invalidate all of Lin Sandie's hard work, wouldn't it?
Lin Sandie was like a bow always drawn taut. Admittedly, it helped me, but it was hurting Lin Sandie more.
"Don't try so hard..." Lou said in a low voice, gently tucking Lin Sandie's fallen hair behind her ear. Seeing her sleeping face, her heart skipped a beat.
Gently lifting Lin Sandie, Lou placed the woman, who was so exhausted she was practically unconscious, onto the thin blanket and gazed at her sleeping face again.
"You don't have to try so hard when we're just playing house." Lou's voice was faint, as if she were also telling herself this. But she couldn't tear her eyes away from Lin Sandie. For some reason, her eyes suddenly welled with tears as she thought of Little Rabbit, not knowing where she was or whether she was alive or dead.
"We can just play around casually. We'll have to go our separate ways in the future anyway."
"Don't try so hard. Don't make me unable to take my eyes off you."
"You don't understand. I... I can't betray her again."
Lou's voice was so faint it seemed like it would scatter in the wind. She seemed sorrowful and vulnerable, as if stripped of all her armor. She was no longer the usual Lou who treated killing like a game.
Tower World Aztec
Lin Sandie came to her senses and found herself in a desert that stretched as far as the eye could see. This was not the castle where she and Little Fool lived.
"She raised me. She taught me many things... including how to be a person, how to hunt... Without her, I wouldn't exist."
"It's not her fault, I'm just a bad learner~"
"I met her when I was six or seven."
"Actually, she left me many years ago, so I don't remember many of the details about her very clearly."
"My memories of her are more about feelings now. But often, when I encounter something I find difficult, I'll wonder what she would do if she were here."
"Her codename is Little Rabbit. If you leave Leviathan and go to the Main World in the future, tell me if you meet her. I'll reward you."
"If I can't see her again in person and tell her I'm sorry, my heart will never be at peace."
"I betrayed her!"
The memories of her conversations with Lou in Leviathan flooded her mind. Lin Sandie's heart pounded, and a heat spread through her body. She remembered Lou's voice and expression back then—how gentle, how fond, and yet how obsessed she was when she spoke of that "Blade Sheath."
"Haha." Lin Sandie gave a dry laugh, feeling an indescribable sadness and tenderness welling up in her heart.
What has Little Fool been through? Why did she become like that? She... why is she looking for me?
How could she have betrayed me? I never even expected her to do anything proper. The trouble she caused me... a single 'I'm sorry' wouldn't even begin to cover it...
Lin Sandie covered her face, tears streaming down. Her heart ached so much for what Lou had endured that she felt she could die right then and there.
This Little Fool, why does she have to torture herself like this?
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