This voice… sounded a bit familiar?
Stelle paused at the door. Although she knew this was Jingliu's mindscape, the voice just now definitely did not belong to Jingliu.
Could there be someone else here?
Thinking of this, Stelle gripped the door handle and slowly opened the large door—
"Welcome here, Trailblazer."
What greeted her eyes was a high-tech style laboratory. Ruan Mei was wearing a white lab coat and glasses, smiling gently at Stelle. "You're here."
"R-Ruan Mei?"
Stelle was slightly stunned. Wasn't this Jingliu's mindscape? Why was Ruan Mei appearing here? And what about the Ruan Mei outside?
"It's me." Ruan Mei smiled slightly. "But to be precise, I am a backup mechanism left by Ruan Mei in Jingliu's consciousness. I'm merely a projection of the main body."
"I know why you're here. Don't worry, I'll explain everything to you slowly."
Ruan Mei proactively took Stelle's small hand and led her to a metal chair. There, the Jingliu of the mindscape whom Stelle had been searching for sat quietly. She was wearing a metal helmet on her head, breathing calmly, and showed no reaction to the arrival of the two.
It was as if she were asleep.
"My main body probably didn't expect you could come here, so she didn't inform you in advance."
Seeing the puzzled expression on Stelle's face, Ruan Mei gently rubbed the latter's head and said, "As you can see, Miss Jingliu's consciousness is right here. I have been keeping her at the boundary of the Mara-Struck State so that her spirit does not completely die."
"But since you've made it here, it means Miss Jingliu's physical condition has become very bad. Technical means alone can no longer maintain her—"
Beep beep beep—
While Ruan Mei was explaining the situation to Stelle, a series of urgent alarm sounds suddenly rang out in the laboratory. The metal helmet on Jingliu's head lit up with a red light, instantly dyeing the entire laboratory blood-red.
"Hmph hahahahaha, hahahahaha—"
Jingliu, who had been sitting quietly on the chair, suddenly began laughing loudly without any warning. Her limbs started struggling fiercely, and the temperature around them began to drop…
"Ah, don't worry. This is a sign of the Mara-Struck State."
Ruan Mei calmly raised one finger. "At times like this, my role is generally just to control her so she doesn't fully break down."
Stelle glanced at Jingliu who was about to go mad, then at Ruan Mei who was not anxious at all, and swallowed. "How do you control her?"
Ruan Mei took out a remote control. "By the way, have you been to Penacony before?"
At this moment, Jingliu had already stood up from the chair and was moving toward the two of them with stiff steps, just like the zombies in Plants vs. Zombies.
Stelle slowly dripped a bead of cold sweat. "I have, but shouldn't we control Jingliu first right now?"
Ruan Mei seemed not to notice the abnormality behind her and continued, "I once cooperated with the Penacony Corporation there and developed a device that can control employees' minds and bodies. Through this, employees can love their work and actively engage in involution and overtime."
"But it can also be used here."
Ruan Mei gently pressed a button on the remote control. "Just like this~"
...
Reality.
As time passed, the effect of the "Wooden Person Potion" was gradually wearing off. At the very least, Jing Yuan and the other three felt their bodies could perform partial movements. But at that moment, a sudden change occurred.
"Hmph hahahahaha!"
Jingliu's Mara-Struck State flared up again!
"Of five people, three must pay a price. You three are all among them!"
Jingliu laughed madly as she dragged her still not fully recovered body. She first pounced on Jing Yuan, who was closest to her, pinning him to the ground. Then, straddling him, she condensed an ice sword in her hand and stabbed down viciously.
Jing Yuan: !
In the nick of time, even though his body had not fully regained control, Jing Yuan seemed to have triggered some switch. He once again precisely caught the ice sword between his palms, stopping it just as the tip was about to touch him.
"Blade, Dan Heng… help me!"
Jing Yuan gritted his teeth and said with difficulty.
He didn't understand. He had clearly been so good to Jingliu back then, so why was the first sword after she entered the Mara-Struck State always aimed at him?
Wasn't it just selling her to Penacony? He had gone there himself just a couple of days ago and didn't think it was bad at all!
The situation was urgent. He had no choice but to call for help, however…
—"Dan Feng, did you think that by changing to another appearance and another identity, your past sins could be written off? The omen of death is approaching!"
"Azure Dragon Purifies the World!"
Clang clang clang—! (Fighting sound effects)
Jing Yuan wanted to curse. What time was this? Could you two put your little grudge aside for now? No one's going to die from your fighting. Save me first!
But it was clearly impossible to make those two stop now, so Jing Yuan could only switch targets. His voice sounded as if it was squeezed out from his throat. "M-March 7th… miss, h-help me!"
"..."
No one responded.
A question mark slowly appeared above Jing Yuan's head. At that moment, from the corner of his eye, he vaguely caught a glimpse of part of March 7th's figure:
In a remote corner not far away, March 7th was hugging a certain small gray-haired girl in her arms, hearts in her eyes, completely unaware of what was happening over here.
Why? Why does everyone have their own things to do?!
Jing Yuan despaired, but at that moment, he suddenly remembered Ruan Mei must still be nearby, so he used his last strength to cry for help. "Help me, Miss Ruan Mei!"
Ruan Mei was indeed the only reliable person in the group. After hearing Jing Yuan's plea, she nodded seriously, took out a bottle of splash-type potion from her pocket. "Freezing Potion. It can restrict movement."
Upon hearing this, Jing Yuan's face instantly turned pale with fright. "Wait a sec—"
Crack—
The potion smashed beside Jing Yuan and Jingliu, quickly spreading and taking effect. Jing Yuan could only watch helplessly as his body was frozen by ice crystals, completely losing the ability to resist…
And Jingliu? Oh, she had ice resistance, so the Freezing Potion had no substantial effect on her. Therefore…
Jing Yuan: X__X
Seeing Jing Yuan's hands drop limply, Ruan Mei finally realized she seemed to have done something wrong. She slapped her forehead in annoyance. "Ah, I forgot Miss Jingliu has ice resistance. I didn't expect this to happen."
Ruan Mei rummaged through her pocket and pulled out a green bottle. "Healing Potion!"
Crack—
Jing Yuan suddenly opened his eyes, his expression dazed.
Whoosh—
Pure muscle memory, Jing Yuan's palms slammed together fiercely. The ice sword was immediately caught again.
The situation had returned to the exact same scene as before.
Jing Yuan broke down. "Don't do it again!! Stelle! How exactly are things going in there?! I can't hold on any longer!!"
"..."
The moment after Jing Yuan's shout, a miracle happened.
Jingliu suddenly stopped moving, like a puppet whose switch had been pressed. Her actions froze instantly, completely motionless.