To my dear readers, in celebration of the novel's title and cover change, four chapters (double the agreed-upon number) have been published as a token of my appreciation!
⚡ Don't forget to support the novel with energy stones.
Don't Touch Me Was Here🙌🎭
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"I only got close to Madeleine for the sake of Philosophical Embodiment and nothing else... but I mustn't tell Bing this," James thought to himself and said: "I can't abandon human relationships like you can! That's why I struggle with the acting!"
"Is the Path you follow truly the Supreme Mechanism? It seems like a great and powerful Path too, that giant artifact... praised it along with mine earlier!" said Xiaobing to change the subject and continued: "Let me guess again! The first level of your Path involves analyzing complex systems and detecting intentions!"
"How do you know this?" James was surprised by Xiaobing's analysis of his Path's first-level abilities, and added: "Who exactly are you?!"
"I didn't know! Only now from your reaction. All I did was deduce everything I saw about you today and said. As for the answer to your question... I honestly don't know who I am!" said Xiaobing while putting his left hand into his trouser pocket and pulling out a lighter and a strangely shaped cigarette case.
He didn't want to examine the item he felt in his coat pocket and wanted to hide it from James, because that item was the only clue that would allow him to meet the owner of that puppet face to face. Xiaobing sighed and said: "Won't you tell me what Cognitive Perception and the Existential Sacrifice mean? I know you're dodging!"
"Man, you scared me! I thought you were a high-level entity who had re-embodied! But after saying that, I've thrown that thought away," James said while looking at the cigarette case and lighter in Xiaobing's hand and continued: "Do you know the name of the level that follows your current first level?"
"No!" replied Xiaobing while taking out a cigarette and lighting it with the lighter. Then he took a drag and exhaled.
"Then you shouldn't know how to write without paper!" said James while continuing: "Bing! Where do you get these distinctive things of yours?"
'I expected him to say this,' he thought to himself and said: "Would you believe me if I said I inherited them from my deceased grandfather?" Xiaobing asked while responding to James... then continued: "Do you want one? But if Madeleine scolds you later, that's not my problem!" Xiaobing showed a strange look in his tired eyes towards James.
'You and your deceased grandfather again!' James grumbled while saying: "Of course I want one! It doesn't matter if she scolds me later! This cigarette looks truly special. But you're lying to me again with this poor excuse." James said while reaching his hand towards Xiaobing's left hand and took one cigarette. He wanted to take the lighter but Xiaobing stopped him and told him to put the cigarette in his mouth first and he would light it for him.
And so, Xiaobing lit the cigarette for him, and then took a drag from his own and exhaled.
"By the way! Why do we have to walk when we could ride a carriage?" Xiaobing asked James, who was exhaling smoke from his lungs.
"Today is the official holiday for all carriages in the city except... private ones, and don't ask me why he likes today to be a holiday, this is the decision issued by the Prince, what we call Friday!" replied James.
"...." Xiaobing didn't respond to James's talk about the Prince, otherwise he would have said things that he believed would sentence him to death, so he remained silent and didn't say anything... and continued smoking with James as they walked down the street.
"Bing!.... Tell me the truth now! What happened to that person!" Suddenly James's voice interrupted the street's quiet once again.
"What do you mean by telling you the truth? I already told you!" replied Xiaobing wearily. He was playing the role of the liar once again skillfully.
"Do you think I'd believe such nonsense? Why in hell would he be a puppet! I didn't sense that and even if you said your Path sees energy from a different perspective than other Paths, that doesn't change anything." James replied in an unnatural tone.
"I've already told you everything! If you don't believe me, that's not my problem!" replied Xiaobing while continuing: "Why didn't you wish for the effects of the Pillaging Flame to be canceled? Instead of whining in front of me?"
"Yes yes... You said that, but what whining are you talking about? And you ask me why I didn't wish for the effects of the Pillaging Flame to be canceled? Simply escaping with our lives is much better... and I know you know what those words mean!" replied James.
"Escaping with our lives? You mean the auras of Lokehart and Li..." Xiaobing suddenly fell silent and felt a shiver run through his aching body.
"Huh? Why didn't you finish the other name?!" James brought his head closer to Xiaobing's face and showed a strange expression.
"Because he doesn't deserve it?" replied Xiaobing while pushing James's face away with his left hand.
"Hahaha, maybe you don't want to mention your lover's name in front of me because you're jealous?" James spoke in a joking tone but felt Xiaobing's right hand pressing around his neck.
"I swear if you tell anyone about that thing that happened that evening, I will kill you!" said Xiaobing angrily.
"No...no...you shouldn't do this! I'll stop and won't tell anyone!" replied James while laughing inwardly: 'Hahaha, I won't tell anyone except Madeleine and old man Herbert's daughter!' James wanted to use this point against Xiaobing.
'Hahaha, I already know you won't tell anyone except Madeleine! And that's why I prepared something for you if you tried to use it as leverage against me!' Xiaobing also laughed inwardly while taking a final drag before throwing that cigarette from his hand.
"So Bing! Which neighborhood or street do you live in, by the way?" asked James while disposing of the cigarette from his hand.
"I thought I told you before?" replied Xiaobing while asking James.
"No, you haven't told me anything of the sort!" James replied quickly.
"Really?" asked Xiaobing while continuing: "If that's the case, then I'll tell you now, I don't live in any neighborhood or street in this city, I live in a mountain!"
"A mountain? You must be from that village in the mountain, right?" asked James.
Xiaobing remembered those words he heard from that woman in the village while he was dying alone in the shack, and this made him furious again at the memory, but he hid his anger and said with a faint smile: "No, I'm just a homeless person living in a dilapidated shack that happens to be on a mountain, but it's not far from that village as its location is at the foot of the mountain and that village lies below it."
"Hmm... aside from calling yourself homeless, I agree on that point... but why aren't you from that village's residents even though you live on the same mountain as you said?" asked James.
"Hahahaha, you want to know that? Well... let's say I'm an outcast from there? Left in a dilapidated shack to die slowly from hunger and exhaustion... also there's no money in my possession! So I decided to enter the city and find work so that... I can satisfy the hunger that slowly devours my body... and you know the rest!" Xiaobing's tone carried unbearable pain and hatred at its core.
James realized the deep hatred in his words so he quickly said: "It seems you suffered a lot from the people of that village! But this doesn't explain the foul smell that was on your clothes! Don't tell me they prevented you from bathing!" James laughed.
'He's right, this doesn't explain that smell on my previous clothes! Because they were covered with blood belonging to the previous body's owner when he was silenced! And also I didn't tell him about the next reason for my visit to the city which is destroying those damned factories that emit smoke toward the dilapidated shack, but let him laugh and not tell him this!' Xiaobing thought to himself.
"But Bing!" James suddenly stopped and turned his gaze toward Xiaobing beside him and asked: "What will you do if you obtain the necessary power? Will you kill them for what they did to you?"
"That's none of your business!" Xiaobing replied quickly.
"Tch! Keep it to yourself then!" James replied annoyed.
'This night is going to be truly painful!' Xiaobing said to himself and felt his entire body shattering like glass from the inside, but he didn't show this to James and continued to endure as they headed toward the café. And they talked about silly things like old friends.
....
End of Chapter ~ To Be Continued