Perhaps, this brief time together was nothing more than a speck of dust in their long and destined-to-be-turbulent lives.
Maybe after only a few sunrises and sunsets, they would forget each other.
That… would be for the best.
One step deep, one step shallow.
Serie wiped the blood from her mouth and walked aimlessly.
Where to go?
Her mind was blank, like the desolate wilderness covered in heavy snow.
Perhaps… she should find a way to bring Wildfire Witch and Mad Eater Witch closer?
"Tsk, speaking of which, the shortest straight-line path from this wretched place to Mexico… is actually north, straight into the Arctic Circle?"
Serie couldn't help but mutter under her breath, the cold air mixed with snowflakes entering her lungs, making her silently grimace.
It was true that she wasn't afraid of the cold, but Witches also needed to eat and sleep.
Imagine her trekking hundreds or thousands of kilometers across an ice cap, enduring an arctic storm…
Forget it.
She pulled the collar of her loose yet surprisingly windproof leather jacket tighter, shaking off those wild thoughts.
The most urgent task was still to get away from this area, which was closely monitored by the Control Bureau, and find a less populated place to rest.
Last night… truly exhausted her.
Serie's consciousness slowly returned to her body.
The difference was, Serie had activated the Twin Phantoms this time.
A strong sense of dizziness instantly swept through her brain, her vision gradually tearing as if it had become two screens.
The left screen showed howling wind and snow, her legs sinking deep into the snow.
The right screen showed the pale ceiling of the containment cell, the dull ache of the metal bed frame pressing against her arm.
Vast mental power surged like a floodgate opening, frantically rushing into the sensory channels that maintained the two bodies.
In an instant, ninety percent of her mental power was occupied.
Her originally clear thoughts seemed to be drained, causing Serie's head to ache.
"Ugh…" A suppressed groan almost simultaneously escaped from both bodies, and they both clutched their throbbing heads.
This feeling… was truly too bizarre!
Her consciousness seemed to be forcibly split in half and crammed into two completely different bodies.
The sensory information received by each body—the biting cold wind, the warm covers, the visual misalignment, and even the muscular feedback—were like two incompatible torrents clashing wildly in the narrow neural pathways.
Initially, Serie was very unaccustomed to it.
Wildfire Witch stumbled, falling into the soft snow, kicking up a cloud of snow mist.
Far away in the containment cell, Serie also seemed to be pulled by invisible threads, her balance synchronizing, almost falling to the floor.
Although Serie's Spirit had changed from D to D+ after learning the Twin Phantoms, this slight increase was clearly far from enough to support such high-intensity consciousness division.
She couldn't push herself any longer.
Serie had no choice but to allocate her remaining attribute point, plus the one attribute point gained from completing [Main Quest: Witches Are Not Without Righteousness], for a total of two attribute points, all to Serie's Spirit.
In an instant, the chaotic, overlapping images in her vision suddenly became clear and stable, like a polished lens.
The constant throbbing and buzzing in her head receded like a tide, leaving behind an unprecedented sense of clarity.
Her Spirit had directly risen from D+ to B+, a nearly fundamental transformation.
If an ordinary person's mental power was like a dripping faucet left slightly open.
Then her previous mental power was like a weak stream struggling through mountain rocks.
Now, what surged deep within her consciousness was a wide river capable of carrying the weight of the Doubleshadow.
The effect was immediate.
On the snowfield, Wildfire Witch's figure stood steadily once again amidst the wind and snow.
At the same time, in the containment cell, Serie's main body naturally pulled back into the covers, pretending nothing had happened.
Two lines running parallel, smooth and seamless.
For an ordinary person, simply controlling one body to
draw a circle with the left hand and a square with the right
is enough to throw the brain into confusion, let alone precisely control two bodies with vastly different structures, heights, weights, and senses simultaneously.
But now, for Serie, whose mental power had undergone a qualitative change, this once unimaginable burden had long become effortless.
Although she occasionally still felt dizzy, it didn't affect normal control at all, not to mention that strictly speaking, Serie was simultaneously controlling three bodies.
Deep within that surging river of consciousness, there was also a faint tributary—the AFK-leveling Mad Eater Witch also occupied 10% of her mental power.
Thus, on this planet, an absurdly spectacular scene was unfolding at this very moment.
There were actually three
Series
acting simultaneously in different parts of the world!
However, Serie's activation of the Twin Phantoms this time was purely for testing her abilities.
After all, Wildfire Witch was merely traversing the snowfield normally, and did not require Serie to expend so much mental power.
After the test was completed, Serie deactivated the Twin Phantoms and simultaneously allocated 10% of her mental power to Wildfire Witch, allowing her to stay as far away as possible from the A-class potential anomaly active zone designated by the Control Bureau, while ensuring her own safety.
Now she had other things to do.
Continue exploring the Control Bureau, increase the exploration progress of the mission, and… think about how to use the newly acquired rebirth chance.
Serie took a deep breath, suppressing her turbulent thoughts, then put on that slightly bewildered and innocent expression, waving broadly at the corner surveillance camera, deliberately pinching her voice:
Dr. Lynette~ Can you take me out for some fresh air now?
The surveillance camera lens rotated slightly, as if truly
watching
her.
However, what came from the loudspeaker was an unfamiliar young male voice:
Dr. Lynette has a temporary engagement; I am her student, Jared Cole.
The air seemed to freeze for a moment.
Serie's obedient expression instantly stiffened, and her pinched voice quickly deflated like a punctured balloon.
She awkwardly cleared her throat, reverting to her usual slightly cool tone:
Cough cough… Jared? Can I go out now?
"Of course, please wait, I'll be right there." Jared's answer was concise and to the point, with no particular emotion discernible.
Serie muttered to herself,
As expected of Lynette's student, he's really easy to talk to, huh.
A moment later, the heavy alloy door opened with a
hiss
of releasing air pressure.
Standing at the doorway was a young man with neatly combed black hair and captivating emerald green eyes under the cool white lights. His features were indeed handsome and deep-set, but Serie had no interest in men, so she glanced at him twice and then looked away.
Jared, like Lynette, walked straight to the cabinet by the door and took out an electronic ankle monitor from inside.
He walked towards the bed with the ankle monitor, clearly intending to perform the wearing procedure.
Serie's pupils constricted!
Almost reflexively, she
whooshed
her feet back under the bed frame, instinctively shifting back half a foot, while quickly extending her hand, her speech rate faster than usual:
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