"—It was Dan Feng pretending to be her!!"
The moment these words filled with infinite sorrow and rage left his mouth, the entire room fell into a deathly silence.
Ruan Mei's small mouth opened slightly, her expression one of "So that's how it is."
March 7th helplessly facepalmed, feeling embarrassed by what her companion's previous life had done.
Stelle blinked a couple of times, lowered her head, and began laughing "kukuku" in a blatant attempt to cover her ears and steal the bell.
Jingliu's expression remained deranged, making it impossible to tell whether she was going mad or laughing wildly: "Hmph hahahahaha— Hahahahaha!"
Jing Yuan wore an expression of giving up, as if saying: It doesn't matter anymore.
And finally, Dan Heng—one of the protagonists of the story, the mastermind behind the evil, the fuse—had a calm face, looking as if he hadn't heard anything at all.
If it weren't for the fact that Ruan Mei's "Wooden Person Potion" effect was too strong, Stelle had no doubt that Blade would have chopped Dan Heng into mince right then and there.
Maybe not even that big a piece.
—"Dan Feng, I'm going to kill you waaaaah! I waited for so long, fantasized countless times about spending the rest of my life with Baiheng. You were toying with my feelings!"
Blade cried and roared at the same time. Under the effect of the triple-dose truth serum, his mouth began to lose control:
"Waaaaah, Dan Feng, I really misjudged you. I originally thought that if Baiheng really ended up with Jingliu in the end, then I'd just make do with you for the rest of my life!"
"Although you're usually quite despicable, after I gradually got used to it, I suddenly realized you're also a playful, cute, smiling boy! Other than the fact that your gender is different from Baiheng's, I was still very satisfied with you!"
"So even after I discovered you were impersonating Baiheng to deceive me, I still held a sliver of expectation toward you: Although it's a bit disgusting, if I accepted it then I accepted it…"
"But! You absolutely should not have deceived me again and again!"
"Why did you perform the dragon transformation secret art on Baiheng behind my back? Why?"
Blade's sobbing voice suddenly stopped and turned into a roaring question: "Dan Feng, answer me! Look in my eyes! Tell me, why! Baby, why?!"
Dan Heng was silent for a few seconds before he finally said indifferently, "I already said, I am not him."
Dan Heng: "However, what you just said has stirred up some memory fragments left from the previous life. What you said about this matter is not accurate."
"In Dan Feng's memory, on the contrary, he originally planned to bring you along, but… Baiheng refused."
"She knew that with your personality, you wouldn't just watch her die, so she told Dan Feng to hide it from you at first and only tell you at the end. She didn't expect it would cause such a misunderstanding."
"Did you think your secret crush on her was hidden only in your heart? No, everyone knew back then, including Baiheng and Jingliu."
Blade roared, "Don't change the subject! First think about what you did to me back then! Did hiding it from me require deceiving my feelings? And it's precisely because of your self-righteous idea that I didn't get to see her final moments!"
—"Everyone stop for a moment."
Ruan Mei gave a light cough and said, "Put your personal grudges and entanglements aside for now. Jingliu doesn't have much time left. Focus on the important points and tell us what Jingliu encountered at that time?"
"..."
No one answered. Only Blade, due to the overdose, was still rambling nonstop.
"Yare yare."
Stelle pretended to be helpless as she brushed aside the hair on her forehead. Her calm voice carried a trace of pride. "Looks like in the end, I still have to go try it myself to find out."
"Clockie old man, open Jingliu's mindscape!"
Following Stelle's command, a muscular, burly Clockie figure abruptly appeared behind her and roared, "Tick!"
Tick-tock—
The sound of a clock turning rang out around them. In an instant, Stelle's entire body seemed to have been pressed on pause—she remained completely motionless.
"..."
"Stelle?"
March 7th waved her hand in front of Stelle's face, but the latter showed no reaction at all. Although her posture and expression were identical to a few seconds ago, the highlights in her eyes had already disappeared, like a toy that had run out of battery.
She can't move… right?
March 7th smiled.
...
Jingliu's mindscape.
Unlike previous times entering other people's mindscapes, Jingliu's mindscape could fully be described with the word "terrifying."
It was a pitch-black corridor. The width was so narrow that Stelle couldn't even straighten her arms. The view was completely dark, with only a single flickering incandescent lamp overhead providing a weak light source.
"Eek!"
Stelle was startled by the eerie scene and instinctively wanted to cling onto March 7th, but then immediately remembered this was a mindscape and there was no March 7th to cling to.
"C-Clockie old man!" Stelle mustered her courage and squeezed out the words.
"I'm here, friend." Clockie old man patted Stelle's shoulder reassuringly. "Are you scared?"
"Yeah, what do you think?"
With Clockie old man by her side, Stelle was no longer as nervous as at the beginning. She looked around cautiously and whispered, "This place is so dark and cramped, it's about to give me claustrophobia. Why is Jingliu's inner world like this? It feels like a horror movie?"
Clockie old man replied, "It's normal for everyone's mindscape to be different. They are all manifestations of the subconscious. For example, the evil Mick's inner world was the embodiment of exploitation and corruption; Sunday's was a manifestation of lack of love and loneliness."
"Judging from Miss Jingliu's mindscape now, her current subconscious is filled with darkness, confinement, and fear, so naturally it's a bit scarier."
"Gulp."
Stelle swallowed. "I'm afraid there might be a jump-scare ahead. Clockie old man, you go in front."
Clockie old man scratched his head. "What if later something chases us from behind?"
Stelle: "..."
"Don't say that out loud! I didn't think of it before so I didn't have to worry about it!" Stelle punched Clockie old man a few times in anger.
Clockie old man patted his chest. "Don't be afraid, friend. If there's danger, I'll protect you!"
"Whew… I almost forgot, I still have a stand-in (Memoria)."
Stelle gritted her teeth. "Heed my summons, come forth, Hoolay!"
Whoosh—
"Oh ho ho—!"
A wolf-headed youkai appeared out of thin air. "I'm fucking here baby!"
Stelle grabbed Hoolay's little head. "Next time don't bring a catchphrase. Go scout ahead!"
"Oh."
A few seconds later, Hoolay, Stelle, and Clockie old man were sneaking forward through the corridor. The surroundings were deathly quiet; only the sound of the three moving could be heard.
"Hoo-Hoolay, can you walk a bit faster? Aren't you the Steppe Warhead? Where did your wolf nature go?" Stelle urged.
Hoolay immediately sped up his flight—
"Hey! I told you to walk faster, not that fast! I just wanted you to be a little faster than slow and a little slower than fast!"
Hoolay: "...Master, if you're scared, just say it."