Luo En studied the young girl in front of him, falling into contemplation.
Psychological issues, theoretically, every Beyonder would have them.
Due to having to resist the erosion of the potion's power, every Beyonder was more or less abnormal.
And the higher the Sequence, the more severe it was.
But Tracy gave Luo En a different feeling.
'A strange sense of detachment.'
She had clearly been actively seducing him, and had expressed dissatisfaction with his lack of response.
But he could also feel that a part of joy was mixed in with her so-called dissatisfaction.
She skillfully used her identity as a beautiful girl to gain benefits, yet she loathed this identity from the bottom of her heart, always displaying undeniable self-loathing whenever she flaunted her charms.
It was like... an actor forced to play a role, who detested the costume but had to wear it on stage.
Incomprehensible…
Her self-perception definitely had issues.
"Lachi, feeding her to build rapport is indeed a good idea."
"But don't act rashly." Luo En rubbed Orange Cat's head and whispered, "The opponent is a high-level Assassin; you can't beat it."
"Meow?"
"Besides, we're drifting at sea, so it's better not to have internal strife."
"I'm not lusting after her, I'm telling the truth." Luo En explained, seemingly sensing Orange Cat's peculiar emotions.
"Meow…" Orange Cat gave him a meaningful look, then lowered its body and curled up.
"Uh… Ah…"
Tracy's sudden moan made Luo En's body tense.
"Looks like something's not good." Luo En looked at Tracy, who remained motionless.
"Miss, are you alright?"
No answer…
"Miss?"
Out of caution, Luo En did not go forward to check, but instead activated his Spirit Vision to observe Tracy's condition.
The color of her spirit body was quite dim, and he could clearly feel her life force draining away, already to a life-threatening degree.
Had her previous injuries worsened…? Luo En stroked his chin.
"Meow." Orange Cat suddenly raised its tail, seemingly excited.
"Meow…!" It extended its claws and let out a low growl, as if saying the time was right.
An Assassin's one-hit kill.
"Meow!"
Lachi's eyes were filled with an inexplicable delight, as it pounced towards Tracy, claws outstretched.
However, halfway through its pounce, Luo En, with quick eyes and hands, grabbed it by the scruff of its neck.
The precision unique to a Robot.
"Meow-ow…" Perhaps it was an illusion, but Luo En heard a clear tone of reproach in Lachi's cry.
"Don't move." Luo En's voice was low; he had just received a spiritual intuition warning.
He had a premonition that if he let Lachi kill Tracy, it would likely lead to big trouble.
"Meow…"
Seemingly sensing its owner's seriousness, Orange Cat shrank its head and made no sound.
…
After waiting for a moment, seeing that Tracy still showed no movement, Luo En tiptoed to her side. He lifted his Ripper and poked her.
Poke, poke.
No reaction, could she already be…
"Uh…" Tracy, who had fallen into a coma, suddenly let out a dreamlike murmur:
"Mother, Mama, was I abandoned…?"
Looks like she's not dead yet.
However, Mother, Mama… Normally, it wouldn't make sense to separate these two words, which means…
Is it a psychological issue caused by family factors…?
"Abandoned…"
Luo En inexplicably felt a pang of sympathy; in a way, he too had been abandoned by his original world.
"Sigh, it seems I can't be a bad person after all."
"But why did no one help me when I needed help… whether before or now?"
…
"Fever, huh." Luo En touched Tracy's forehead… Her temperature was too high.
He hesitated for a moment, then gently lifted the coat wrapped around her and began to examine her.
"Meow!" Lachi, on the side, expressed its dissatisfaction.
"This is just a necessary examination." Luo En explained, then unbuttoned Tracy's white shirt.
"Good figure…"
"Meow-ow!"
"Cough cough…" Luo En became serious.
"A shocking wound." There was a clear burn mark on Tracy's back, the scarlet wound forming a stark contrast with her snow-white skin.
"Infected due to prolonged contact with seawater?"
"But, this shouldn't be."
Normally, with a Beyonder's physical quality, it shouldn't have worsened to this extent.
"What's more, her Sequence might even be higher than mine."
"What to do…?" Luo En muttered to himself.
He remembered the potions he had bought, and the limited amount of fresh water.
"Precious resources, or a stranger's life…"
"Sigh… saving lives is more important."
"You owe me two lives…" Luo En muttered to himself.
He unscrewed the water bottle and used clean fresh water to simply rinse Tracy's wound.
Then he picked up his satchel and took out the potion he had previously bought from Roy King.
Wait a minute… He didn't take the wrong one again, did he? Luo En's hand, holding the potion, paused in mid-air.
He remembered Danitz's experience; those two potions were very similar.
'Don't make another blunder…'
He held the potion up to the moonlight and examined it for a few moments.
Only after confirming it was correct did he apply it to Tracy's wound.
"Bear with it." He whispered, even though he knew she couldn't hear him.
The moment the potion touched the wound, Tracy's entire body convulsed, and a whimper like a young beast squeezed from her throat.
"Uh ah~"
…
So, so itchy… Tracy slowly opened her sapphire blue eyes.
She saw Orange Cat licking her face.
"I, I actually fell asleep."
'Strange, the wound doesn't hurt much anymore…'
Tracy fumbled with her body and found that her wounds had actually been bandaged.
"This is, that coat…" Tracy caressed the strips of cloth on her body.
Since there were no bandages, Luo En had to tear off a part of his own coat.
'Mother… didn't come, huh.'
She felt a little lost, then turned her head to look at Luo En: "Hey! What did you do?"
Tracy sat up abruptly, enduring a muffled groan as her wound was tugged.
"Haa-choo…" Luo En stretched, "Is this how you treat your savior?"
"Savior?"
"Is there a third person here?" Luo En waved his hand, "I didn't close my eyes all night to take care of you."
"Here, take this." He handed her a small bowl made from a can.
"This… what is this?"
"Eat something, you need nourishment."
…
Tracy didn't move. She stared intently at Luo En, her sapphire blue eyes mixed with wariness and confusion.
"Don't believe me? If I wanted to harm you, you'd be dead already." Saying so, Luo En pushed the bowl towards her.
"Why?"
"Huh?"
"Why help me?" Tracy clenched her hands.
She didn't feel anything strange on her body, and her previous attempts to seduce Luo En hadn't worked, which meant Luo En wasn't coveting her body.
And she hadn't revealed her name, so it shouldn't be about a bounty either.
So… she couldn't understand why Luo En would help a stranger. Wouldn't the optimal solution be to wait for her to die and then take her Beyonder characteristic?
"Why…" Luo En fell into contemplation. Directly saying 'I saw you were pitiful, so I felt compassion.'
Forget it, this guy's already psychologically abnormal. If he really said that, it would probably backfire.
After a moment of silence, Luo En stood up, becoming uncharacteristically forceful. He took two steps forward, came before Tracy, and looked down at her:
"Hmph! Why?"
"I help because I want to help, what business is it of yours!"
"You…" Tracy's breath hitched.
"Also, counting this time, you owe me two lives."
"Until I believe you've repaid this favor, don't even think about dying."
… Tracy covered her mouth, stunned in place. Besides her Mother, it was the first time anyone had spoken to her in such a tone.
And after she became a Demoness, the men she encountered were either afraid of her or flattered her, never before had…
'Hmph! What's there to be arrogant about!'
Besides… I should be on top.
Looking at the high and mighty Luo En, Tracy roared inwardly.
No matter what, I should always be the one on top!
…
Looking at Tracy silently eating her food, Luo En also felt a wave of awkwardness.
'I think I acted too cool, this isn't my style!'
"Uh… Oh well, forget it!"
"The one acting cool is Brando, what does that have to do with me, Luo En?"
At this moment, Brando was officially distinguished from Luo En.