After the Black Moonlight’s "Death Escape" Failed [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 82

Chapter 82: Hallucination

◎She must have known Wen Fengyue before◎

Looking at the pile of unfolded slips of paper on the bedsheet, a layer of crimson flushed across Wen Fengyue’s cheeks.

She had considered that her small maneuvers might be discovered, but she never imagined… they would be exposed in this way.

Wen Fengyue’s skin was very pale, so when she blushed, it was extremely obvious—like a jar of rouge spilled into white snow, making her entire being seem far more vivid and alive than usual.

Jiao Qingyin was momentarily dazed by the sight.

It was Wen Fengyue’s voice that pulled her back:

“How… did you find out?” Wen Fengyue asked in a tiny voice, her head hanging lower and lower as if she wanted to hide herself inside the quilt.

Hearing her speak, Jiao Qingyin shifted her gaze for a moment but quickly moved it back. This expression of combined embarrassment and regret on Wen Fengyue’s face was actually quite beautiful.

Because from Wen Fengyue’s perspective, Jiao Qingyin was inside her own body, she didn’t hide the expressions on her face, unaware that her blushing face and tightly pursed lips were all being seen by the other person.

“Compared to other normal sticky notes, the thickness was somewhat different,” Jiao Qingyin answered in a good mood after having seen enough. “And…”

“…And?”

Wen Fengyue followed up instinctively, but after Jiao Qingyin paused, she seemed to have no intention of continuing. The more she didn’t speak, the more Wen Fengyue wanted to know. Seeing the other girl get so anxious that she couldn’t help but clutch the bedsheet, Jiao Qingyin curved her eyes and laughed silently.

—But she still didn’t tell Wen Fengyue the answer.

Realizing that Jiao Qingyin truly refused to say, Wen Fengyue reached out in frustration and picked up the slip of paper that said “Just like a puppy.”

Combining the contents of the other slips, she could infer that Jiao Qingyin had written down her impressions of her. Except for “Idiot” and this one, which she couldn’t accept, she could begrudgingly understand the rest.

…But that one saying “Reasonably cute”… Hmph.

She didn’t want to admit she was only “reasonably” cute…

Wen Fengyue first touched the words on the paper and then grumbled: “…I’m not like that.”

Jiao Qingyin feigned confusion: “Not like that? I think it’s very similar.”

“Jiao Jiao…!”

Jiao Qingyin found it a bit funny. Every time the other person wanted something, she would call her “Jiao Jiao Sister” or directly “Sister,” but as soon as she got anxious, the name that blurted out was always “Jiao Jiao.”

She couldn’t accept it at first, but after hearing it a few times, she had gotten used to it.

Jiao Qingyin’s laughter was light, but Wen Fengyue still heard it. Her fingers tightening around the slip of paper, wrinkling it as she asked: “Do you like dogs?”

“Just like a puppy” could be complimentary or derogatory, depending on how Jiao Qingyin viewed dogs.

Wen Fengyue did not like dogs.

In the residential area where she lived, aside from two or three elderly people keeping guard dogs, most of the animals that appeared were wild. These stray dogs liked to move in packs; when they encountered a weaker existence in their territory, they would pounce and attack; when they met something stronger, they would huddle together and bark incessantly.

Compared to those dogs, the stray cats that occasionally appeared in the neighborhood seemed much cuter.

Jiao Qingyin recalled the dogs she had “raised” virtually through videos, and her expression unconsciously softened. “If there’s a chance, I actually really want to raise one.”

Wen Fengyue fell silent for a few seconds and asked: “What breed of dog do you like?”

What breed? Jiao Qingyin thought for a moment. She used to watch videos of Bernese Mountain Dogs and Border Collies the most, but if she were to raise one herself…

The image of a small white dog with blue eyes inexplicably appeared before her.

A little puppy like a marshmallow, sticking out a pink tongue and wagging its tail at her—it was as cute as could be. Jiao Qingyin felt that if she just beckoned to that little dog, it would definitely pounce into her arms immediately.

If there really were such a dog for her to raise… Jiao Qingyin would even be willing to sleep with it.

“A Samoyed… I guess.” Jiao Qingyin found a puppy that fit that image.

While Jiao Qingyin was thinking seriously, Wen Fengyue already felt uncomfortable all over. After the other person finished speaking, she clenched her fists and then released them, finally speaking: “We can raise one together.”

“Hmm?” Jiao Qingyin shifted her attention back to Wen Fengyue.

She witnessed Wen Fengyue’s face full of reluctance, yet still trying her best to speak in a normal tone. “There’s a pet shop downstairs in the hotel. Let’s go take a look tomorrow.”

This girl… Jiao Qingyin felt somewhat helpless. She drifted directly in front of Wen Fengyue, staring into her eyes, and asked: “Do you want to raise one?”

Wen Fengyue spoke against her heart: “Yes.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

Afraid her own thoughts would affect Jiao Qingyin, Wen Fengyue paused and added: “Samoyeds… are quite cute.”

After a short daze, Jiao Qingyin snapped back to her senses.

Seeing that Wen Fengyue seemed about to start persuading her to raise a dog instead, she flicked her finger against the other person’s forehead.

Wen Fengyue froze. She seemed to have felt something just now…

Wen Fengyue’s train of thought was interrupted by Jiao Qingyin’s next sentence— “But I’ve heard Samoyeds aren’t very easy to raise, so I don’t like them that much either.”

Hearing this, Wen Fengyue’s eyes brightened subtly, and her tone involuntarily shifted. “I’ve also heard…”

She used very scientific and researched terms to explain to Jiao Qingyin the troubles of raising a dog, such as how Samoyeds shed easily and need a lot of companionship. Only at the very end did she add a supportive word: “But they are reasonably cute. If you want to raise one…”

“You’re right, let’s not raise one then,” Jiao Qingyin’s lips curled up slightly. “Rather than raising a dog, we might as well nurse your body back to health first.”

Wen Fengyue’s mood clearly soared. She straightened her back and nodded vigorously, “Mhm!”

Jiao Qingyin couldn’t help but smile. She really is like a puppy, she thought. She could almost imagine Wen Fengyue’s eyes sparkling and her tail wagging happily.

The two of them chatted idly about pets for a while. During this, Wen Fengyue accidentally mentioned her school.

“The old music building at school has been abandoned for many years but has never been demolished. Every time I pass by, I can see many small animals.” Like hedgehogs, squirrels, and so on. Occasionally they would even run into the teaching areas.

“Then why isn’t it demolished?”

While being carried by Wen Fengyue as she ran through the campus, Jiao Qingyin had noticed the building she mentioned. Compared to the other sleek and bright buildings, the old music building looked small and dilapidated, giving off the feeling it could collapse at any moment.

“Supposedly, it’s haunted.”

Jiao Qingyin had just asked casually, but Wen Fengyue’s answer made her alert. For ordinary people in this world, they might never know of the existence of ghosts in their entire lives; whether an old building was actually haunted had nothing to do with them.

But Wen Fengyue was different. Judging by the reactions of the two female ghosts Jiao Qingyin had seen, the qualities of this girl were very attractive to spirits. While weaker ghosts couldn’t get close to Wen Fengyue, a fierce ghost like the second one was very likely to bring her danger.

“Take me there to see it tomorrow,” Jiao Qingyin said.

Then she thought of the cut on Wen Fengyue’s neck, and her expression became serious. “The injury on your neck—was it sustained there?”

Wen Fengyue hesitated, her first instinct being to hide it. She had entered that building by accident but strangely got lost inside and accidentally suffered several injuries. Instinct told her that regardless of whether it was truly haunted, it was extremely dangerous. She didn’t want to take Jiao Qingyin there.

However… she simply couldn’t bring herself to lie and deceive Jiao Qingyin. So, after repeated hesitation, Wen Fengyue gritted her teeth and admitted: “Yes.”

She quickly followed up: “It’s very dangerous there, you shouldn’t go!”

Jiao Qingyin listened to Wen Fengyue finish recounting her experience in that building. The smile that often appeared when she was in front of the other person vanished from her face.

The wound on Wen Fengyue’s neck hadn’t hit a vital spot, but it was visibly deep; the amount of bleeding at the time was likely even more severe…

That old music building must truly be haunted, and not by an ordinary ghost—likely more than one. According to the normal world line, Wen Fengyue should never have come into contact with supernatural existences like ghosts, but the current situation had deviated from the plot. This probably related to what Headquarters called the “mutation of the mission world.”

Since they had hurt Wen Fengyue, they were now enemies. Even if it were just to complete the main mission, Jiao Qingyin would go find those ghosts in the music building.

But for now, she chose to soothe Wen Fengyue’s emotions first. “Don’t worry, I won’t take risks.”

Since Wen Fengyue, as an ordinary human who couldn’t see ghosts, could successfully leave the old music building, then as long as Jiao Qingyin controlled her body to go in, combined with her own abilities, she could surely resolve the trouble quickly.

But at this moment, Wen Fengyue became surprisingly sharp: “Not taking risks—does that mean you won’t go to that building, or that you’re still going but have a way to avoid the risks?”

It was Jiao Qingyin’s turn to be quiet.

In the past, she would have unhesitatingly used lies to comfort the other person, letting Wen Fengyue let down her guard and cooperate with her actions without knowing it. It would be very easy to do. Wen Fengyue’s level of trust in her was very high; she didn’t even need to use elaborate words to make the other person believe her. Then, she would only need to wait for Wen Fengyue to fall asleep to directly take over her body and do what she wanted to do. Even if Wen Fengyue woke up halfway through, she had the system’s credit mall as a backup; a 15-point sedative would make the other person fall back asleep.

But she couldn’t even explain her own current feelings—she found that she actually couldn’t bear to lie to Wen Fengyue.

Was it because the gaze the other person used to look at her was completely unreserved? Or was it because Wen Fengyue acted as if she were holding her heart out to her, considering her at every turn…?

To be honest, Jiao Qingyin completely couldn’t understand how the other person could harbor such high favorability toward her. But what she found even harder to understand was herself.

She used to be a very slow-to-warm-up person. Whether dealing with things or humans, she had never experienced anything like “love at first sight”—except when facing Wen Fengyue. She herself could feel that her favorability toward her was increasing day by day.

When she reached out to help the first time she saw Wen Fengyue, she could still explain it as being for the mission. But after waking up ten years later, Wen Fengyue was no longer that child who needed her to teach survival knowledge bit by bit. She could have completely stood by and watched as the other person completed her revenge on her own. Yet she not only didn’t do that, she… she had made exceptions for her again and again.

And… she found that she didn’t regret these exceptions.

Jiao Qingyin stared at Wen Fengyue’s face with an inscrutable expression. After a moment, she spoke in her mind: “System.”

The System was startled. A few hours ago, it had connected with Wen Fengyue’s system and learned that the other party’s communication abilities had been sealed by the world’s consciousness, so it simply dragged it along to play games in a double-queue.

When Jiao Qingyin spoke, it happened to be in the middle of an enemy crowd. Hearing her voice, the data stream shuddered, and the page turned grey and white. Watching the enemy kill Wen Fengyue’s system in return, the System painfully exited the spectating mode while talking to Jiao Qingyin: “Host, do you need help?”

Wen Fengyue’s system was a newly born imitation; the entire system was a bit dazed. Seeing the System start working, it obediently nestled beside the System. Small System: Charging…

The System thought the host was going to ask about the mission and had already pulled out the relevant data. In the next second, however, it heard Jiao Qingyin say something shocking:

“Did I know Wen Fengyue before?”

A long “BEEP—” sound of static rang out. The System panicked and patted out the sparks emerging from its body before answering in as flat a voice as possible: “Host, you do not know her.”

“Oh?” Jiao Qingyin raised an eyebrow.

The System realized something was wrong and wanted to change its words, but Jiao Qingyin spoke a step ahead: “I see. Go back to your work.”

“…” The System was silent for a second and spoke dryly, “System is not busy. System is at host’s service anytime.”

“Is that so?” Jiao Qingyin smiled. “Do you need me to help you recall the difference between your average response time and this one?”

System: “…”

After saying this, Jiao Qingyin stopped talking to the System and looked at Wen Fengyue.

Before asking the System, Jiao Qingyin had basically been certain of the answer, and the other’s reaction served as evidence for her guess.

She had known this person before.

It appeared her missing memories were related to Wen Fengyue. The question now was: did this part of the memory occur before she came to this world, or after? To put it another way—was Wen Fengyue a transmigrator whose memories were sealed like hers, or an original inhabitant who had lived in this world from the beginning?

The System shrunk into a corner, silently drawing circles on the floor. This was guessed by the host herself; it doesn’t count as my hint, right? The System was a bit worried, afraid it might suddenly receive a warning letter from Headquarters.

Just then, Wen Fengyue’s system, which was a size smaller than it, came hopping over to the corner, rubbing against its mechanical shell as if wanting to keep snuggling.

“If you want to charge, go back to your own host,” the System said huffily. “Don’t come rubbing against mine.”

The small system’s electronic screen slowly cycled, finally landing on “QAQ”.

System: “…” It remained still in frustration, and the cheerful current jumping from the small system immediately leaned against it.

On the other side, Jiao Qingyin looked at Wen Fengyue and gave a truthful answer: “I know the situation inside there, so I want to go in to take revenge for you.”

Wen Fengyue’s eyes widened. “You know? Why… no, even so, you can’t…”

“Don’t you want revenge?”

“I do, but I don’t want you to take risks,” Under the fluctuation of emotions, Wen Fengyue stood up. “There’s really something wrong with that place, it’s like there are really…”

The words “ghosts exist” circled the tip of her tongue but weren’t spoken. She had always been a materialist; since she was a child, she didn’t believe—and was unwilling to believe—in the existence of ghosts in this world. In the dark, she felt that if she spoke those words, her world would undergo some unpredictable transformation.

Jiao Qingyin could see that Wen Fengyue was sincerely worried about her safety. This made her stop her original words and choose to ask another question: “Had you not thought about going back to see before?”

Wen Fengyue didn’t make a sound. She had thought about it. If it were just her alone, of course she would dare to go back to that old music building. Not only would she go back, she would also find out the strange existence that caused her injury.

But going back with Jiao Qingyin changed the nature of it. She would rather her own head be broken and bleeding than have the other person lose a single hair. Wait, they used the same body, so she had to be even more careful not to sustain any more injuries.

Seeing Wen Fengyue’s firm attitude and refusal to back down, Jiao Qingyin originally wanted to reason with her and persuade her without revealing her identity. But after a little thought, she changed her approach.

She chose to say righteously: “I’m going anyway. It doesn’t matter if you don’t agree.”

Wen Fengyue: “…”

She was stunned for a good while before she could process Jiao Qingyin’s words. This made her impatiently try to stop her: “But…!”

“If you agree, we go together; if you don’t agree, I’ll go myself while you’re asleep.” Jiao Qingyin fully displayed an unreasonable manner.

Wen Fengyue shut her mouth. She stared at the air in front of her, her stomach full of things she wanted to say to Jiao Qingyin. She was both anxious and angry but couldn’t find an outlet. She couldn’t bear to be angry at Jiao Qingyin, so in the end, she could only return to the bed with a dark expression and bury her face in the pillow.

Angry! Super angry!! The kind that can’t be coaxed!!!

Jiao Qingyin almost burst out laughing. She expected Wen Fengyue would be angry, but she didn’t expect the reaction to be so… cute. Usually, when people are angry, they vent their anger at the person who provoked them, but Wen Fengyue would rather keep it bottled up than say harsh words to her…

Jiao Qingyin drifted over her, controlling her to raise her right hand and pat her own head. Mhm, the touch of the hair was as good as she imagined.

Wen Fengyue didn’t move. She lay on the bed, acting as if she felt nothing—if it weren’t for her back being pulled too straight, Jiao Qingyin might have been fooled.

Seeing that the method of patting the head to comfort didn’t work, Jiao Qingyin sat on the edge of the bed and said: “Don’t be angry anymore, okay?”

The last time she said that, Wen Fengyue really stopped being angry, but clearly, the nature of this incident was different. Although Wen Fengyue shifted slightly, she still didn’t yield.

Wen Fengyue really wanted to turn around and tell Jiao Qingyin she wasn’t angry anymore, but she wanted even more to make the other person give up that dangerous idea. For this purpose, no matter what Jiao Qingyin said, she would not back down—

“Those slips of paper, you missed one,” Seeing that Wen Fengyue was so angry she was unwilling to acknowledge her, Jiao Qingyin thought for a moment and brought up another matter. “Aren’t you going to look at what’s written on it?”

Wen Fengyue remained motionless, looking as if she had no interest at all.

Jiao Qingyin sighed. “It’s nothing if you don’t look. It’s just some of my opinions about you, not very important.”

Wen Fengyue still didn’t move. Jiao Qingyin looked at her from the side, her lips unconsciously curling up as she counted. She only got to fifteen before Wen Fengyue sat up.

Perhaps because she was still unhappy, or perhaps because she had been stifled by the pillow, Wen Fengyue’s cheeks were especially red. She said nothing as she picked up the slip of paper and flipped over the remaining, unique “Idiot.”

The words written on it were much more than she imagined, almost like a short poem.

“I regret missing ten years of your life. But you have become a very good person. Exceptionally good.”

Wen Fengyue stared at these three lines for a very, very long time—so long that the rain outside the window stopped. Stars appeared in the sky, and the moon emerged from behind the clouds. The swimming pool reflected the city lights, shimmering.

Finally, just as Jiao Qingyin was wondering if she had written something wrong, Wen Fengyue spoke in a somewhat raspy voice: “…I’m not good.”

She had a terrible personality, a bad temper, she held grudges, she had zero concern for small animals or vulnerable people, and she had no respect for elders or those in high positions. She hated the entire world. If she were given a button that could destroy the world, she would be the one who pressed it without hesitation.

She wasn’t good at all.

Wen Fengyue lowered her head, unable to control the strength in her hands; that piece of paper was accidentally crumpled into a ball by her.

Jiao Qingyin looked down at Wen Fengyue before her. After a long while, she crouched down. She met Wen Fengyue’s staring eyes, the expression on her face carrying a tenderness she herself didn’t notice.

“I think you are very good.” “This is my personal opinion. You can deny it, but I will still continue to hold this view.”

Rarely having spoken this type of heartfelt words, Jiao Qingyin’s face felt a bit hot. Due to her words, Wen Fengyue’s eyes regained focus.

Suddenly, she felt she saw a person. A person… who was looking at her tenderly.

The fleeting hallucination disappeared in the next second. While stunned, Wen Fengyue uncontrollably reached forward—

Her fingers passed through Jiao Qingyin’s body.

Jiao Qingyin, about to stand up, looked at Wen Fengyue in surprise. The other’s hand was sunk exactly into the position where her heart was located. An inexplicable warm current flowed directly from the other’s fingertips into her limbs and bones.

Jiao Qingyin suddenly understood why those ghosts wouldn’t let go of Wen Fengyue. She also understood why those two female ghosts said they felt Wen Fengyue would be “delicious.”

Because… she really was delicious.

Jiao Qingyin’s transparent spiritual body gradually took on color; a layer of extremely light crimson rose up, dyeing all of her exposed skin this color. Jiao Qingyin looked down in a daze. Most of her skin was covered by the uniform of the Time and Space Management Bureau, but she estimated it had turned red as well.

Her color changed from a transparent water droplet to a translucent gem tinged with red.

But this change could only be sensed by herself. Wen Fengyue’s hands grabbed at the void twice but still hit nothing, as if that moment earlier had been entirely her imagination.

Wen Fengyue’s suddenly racing heartbeat began to settle. She realized she hadn’t even been able to clearly see the face of that hallucination. She remembered that accompanying schizophrenia are often high-intensity auditory and visual hallucinations. Could what she saw just now… have been Jiao Jiao’s appearance?

After thinking this through, her heart, which had just quieted down, began to roar and drum again. She couldn’t help but ask: “Jiao Jiao, is it you?”

Jiao Qingyin’s cheeks were flushed. She couldn’t hear clearly what Wen Fengyue said because she was still immersed in the afterglow of “tasting” the other person.

It was really too delicious…

Jiao Qingyin unconsciously drifted over Wen Fengyue and hugged her.

…Too delicious, too delicious, too delicious! How could there be something so delicious in the world!

Jiao Qingyin was like a big cat smelling catnip for the first time. The entire ghost was lazy and happy, leaning against Wen Fengyue and refusing to move.

“Jiao Jiao…” Wen Fengyue didn’t feel this embrace and was still trying to ask the previous question.

Jiao Qingyin heard her, but she didn’t want to answer—answering would only delay her savoring. To make Wen Fengyue a bit quieter, she reached out a hand, passed it through the other’s arm, and used Wen Fengyue’s own hand to cover Wen Fengyue’s mouth.

“Shh…” Jiao Qingyin, as if drunk, rubbed against Wen Fengyue’s cheek, her face hanging with a flush of satisfaction. “Let me sleep for a while…”