Xyrin Empire
Chapter 564: Finally Found You

Chapter 564: Chapter 564: Finally Found You

The plan we started with was pretty simple, and I’m sure the smart ones among you have already guessed what it was.

We just wanted to play ghost and scare the little girl who cheated our feelings (is that too harsh?), with absolutely no ill intent. And the first step of this plan was to create the atmosphere of a haunted mansion, so when Mercury Lamp arrived, we all switched to vibration... err, invisibility.

The second step... well, okay, the first step was a bust.

Technically, Anwina should have emerged from the TV by now. Although the idea was cliché and probably not much for someone like Mercury Lamp who could utilize secret techniques to move through mirror space, it was still meant to be an opening act. But my carefully planned appetizer became flammable trash before it was even unveiled—Mercury Lamp actually had the nerve to fall asleep on the couch.

This left the Imperial High-Level folks gathered in the living room scratching their heads and fuming, eager to see "The Ring."

And I once again wondered, why on earth did a Mercury Lamp, theoretically only rechargeable in its original packaging, turn out to be an exception that supports universal power banks? Sleeping on my shoulder could be seen as charging from me, the giant battery, but randomly falling asleep on any couch? Isn’t that just a slap in the face? Isn’t that slapping the face of all Rose Maiden’s real dads?

"I’m going to wake her up."

After staring blankly around the couch, with the Imperial Leaders wearing expressions more subtle than the next, Qianqian came up with the above constructive suggestion, meanwhile pulling out a constructive tool: a massive iron hammer that appeared to weigh at least a hundred pounds, ready to smash down.

I couldn’t believe this girl could pull out such a thing at any time. What on earth was she planning to use it for?

"Put it back!" I instantly stuffed the iron hammer back into Qianqian’s personal space, "Do you think everyone is as immune to blades and guns as we are?"

"Eh, wait, she looks like she’s about to wake up!"

Lin Xue suddenly interjected in our spiritual connection, making everyone tense up instantly, and then we swiftly retreated more than two meters.

Indeed, as we were backing up, the eyelashes of Mercury Lamp lying on the couch trembled slightly, then she opened her rose-colored eyes as expected, sitting up groggily.

"Hmm?" Seemingly noticing something off, the little doll girl furrowed her brows and looked around. I quickly checked to see if anyone had left anything on the floor, but soon I realized that Mercury Lamp was paying attention to something else.

She ran to the window and stared blankly at the dim dawn sky that still lacked sunrise. After a long while, she ran back and looked at the wall clock stuck at 4:30 in the morning.

Time was still frozen by Qianqian... err, I think I understand why Qianqian had unhesitatingly pulled out a giant hammer just now; Qianqian in her energy fully unleashed demon transformation state, even though this girl has now largely suppressed the massive psychological shift during transformation, is still equivalent to replacing Zhang Fei with Li Kui and throwing him in front of neighbor Uncle Wang – she’s still a killing deity, and Qianqian will always be an off-spec weapon that should be used with caution until she completely overcomes her transformation personality.

"Anwina, it’s your turn now!"

Mercury Lamp had woken up and there was no loss of time, so naturally, the plan had to continue. I quickly called on a certain Little Ghost through the spiritual connection, who was booked for the role of Zhenzi.

What responded to me was a series of faint snoring sounds.

That little troublemaker had actually fallen asleep inside the LCD screen.

"This little brat!" I was about to spit bile, then waved to everyone, "Original plan canceled, switch to Plan B!"

"Do we have a Plan B?" Qianqian looked at me, puzzled.

My face turned red, "This is just to set the mood, Lin Xue, go turn on the lights!"

Here, I want to express my current understanding that playing the ghost is indeed a very untechnical affair, especially after you’ve gained the ability of invisibility. Deceiving others visually means you’re pretty much capable of messing with just about anything. In recent years, as the spiritual and cultural level of the masses has increased, many enthusiasts for YY fantasy ghastly romance movies have created numerous examples for us to draw from, with works like Invisible XX popping up like mushrooms after the rain... Wait, what am I thinking about?

However, leading a room full of beauties to tease a 92.3cm doll, I might as well be a trailblazer.

With a "click," the living room’s chandelier lit up without warning, startling even the Mercury Lamp, who pitter-pattered over to the light switch. The now somewhat serious doll girl stared intently at the small protrusion on the wall, while Lin Xue, with a shock, plastered herself against the wall. In the inhumane presence of our onlookers, she tensed her muscles, daring not even to breathe, as she tiptoed and shifted inch by inch. While shifting, her gaze cut through us, a bunch of onlookers, and it seemed quite challenging to complete this series of actions 10 centimeters in front of the Mercury Lamp. The usually unflappable Prophet’s face turned red, and just when it looked like she would successfully get away, something unexpected happened: the Mercury Lamp, without warning, raised her hand to poke the switch, which was blocked by the C-cup of Miss Lin.

In an instant, Miss Lin pressed against the wall and contorted into an S-shape—I was about to burst out laughing.

"You dumb piece of wood, if you don’t think of a way to help me, Miss, I’ll reveal tomorrow that you kissed me by force!"

Miss Lin’s unreasonable threat came through the Mind Communication. Wait, wasn’t it you who kissed someone else by force at that time? Although, if I think about it seriously, I was the one who benefited...

Considering that Lin Xue had the property of an Aggregation that was difficult to move, I didn’t hesitate and turned off the television by my hand. As expected, this attracted the Mercury Lamp’s attention.

This scene reminded me of the days when I played hide-and-seek as a child. Back then, Qianqian and I teamed up and were invincible. Our usual tactic was: first, make that poor soul cover his eyes, then I would be responsible for throwing a stone far away, and finally, Qianqian and I would go home for dinner.

After fourth grade, no one wanted to play with us anymore.

Now, I seem to find the shadow of my childhood in Lin Xue. Could this be the fate of being doomed?

Continuous encounters with odd events had made the Mercury Lamp’s expression serious, but regrettably, she showed no sign of panic at all. My earlier worry had come true: for a Rose Maiden capable of firing barrages and who had fought an Angel, ordinary The Ring and Elm Street stuff were just like passing clouds.

Mercury Lamp was still running around in the empty living room, trying to find the source of the anomalies. She began to try to open the door to leave, but of course, she failed. The one who pushed the door open reentered from another wall of the living room the next second. The entire house had entered a state of warped space, self-sealed. After several such attempts, the Mercury Lamp seemed to understand the futility and began to stand at the door and think.

Still showing not a bit of panic.

"I’ve realized something," Big Sister said with a sigh, speaking through Mind Communication. "That girl, Mercury Lamp, has taken everything that happens in this house as a given."

You don’t have to tell me, I’ve noticed it too.

Xyrin’s omniscient thoughts penetrated the heart of the Mercury Lamp. Even if we conjured an atmosphere of Silent Hill, she would only wonder, "What are those guys messing with at home again?" and would never panic. Under this premise, our efforts for most of the night were truly in vain.

And there’s another thing, fundamentally speaking, the Mercury Lamp, an independently moving doll thrown into the real world, had already become a supernatural event. Although she looks cute, under the right conditions, she probably also has the qualifications to give people a scare in the middle of the night. Considering such a host, how much function our haunted house design had was highly questionable. It was like the Resident Evil series; the first time I watched it, I almost threw up my New Year’s Eve dinner. But after Sylvanas watched it, she described it as a slice of life—she felt a deep sense of kinship.

So, normal levels of haunted house would really be nothing in front of the Mercury Lamp, and correspondingly, aside from Anwina, who had a bit of practical experience, none of us were experts or scholars in supernatural events. That was just our level...

"Girl Lin, how about I hang you from the chandelier later, and we see if an appearing corpse will do the trick?" Seeing the Mercury Lamp treat suddenly appearing bloody handprints on the wall as interesting graffiti and start hopping along with them, I said a bit listlessly through Mind Communication.

"Get lost!" Prophet Lin wasn’t in a good mood, "A mistake, indeed. I spent half the night figuring out how to scare this girl, and it didn’t occur to me to check what effects those plans would actually have..."

Sigh, you’re not a 24-hour operation, and honestly speaking, spending half the night figuring out how to mess with a doll, we really are a bit guilt-ridden.

Just when I had given up, preparing to show myself early, an accident occurred. The living room TV suddenly came on by itself, drawing the Mercury Lamp’s attention all at once.

Chaotic snowflakes flickered aimlessly on the gradually brightening screen. The magnetic disturbances, which should not have appeared on an LCD TV, interwove into eerie, twisted blood symbols. In the dim halo, a woman with long hair covering her entire face suddenly peeked out from beneath the screen, then leaned out of the screen, and slowly crawled out...

The mischievous little ghost, who had a rather peculiar biological clock, slept for twenty minutes and then entered her waking period again and started her work. She woke up at the worst possible time.

Moreover, after confirming that the Mercury Lamp was highly receptive to the paranormal activity in this house, I was ready to see how unlucky the little ghost would get. Sandora and Big Sister had both turned their heads away, unable to bear witness to the spectacle.

"Master won’t run into any trouble, will she?" said Du Dao Sayaka, stubbornly decked in a maid costume, having already worked as a full-time maid in this house for two days, a tone of concern to her voice. Everyone knew what she meant by "Master," so no explanation was needed.

I shrugged indifferently: "She’s gotten stuck in front of the TV three times, often freezes after coming out of the fridge, occasionally bursting with enthusiasm to crawl through the pipes, though she comes out thin and elongated for an hour, and once after reading two horror novels in her quest to become a qualified Possessing Ghost, she accidentally ended up in a fly’s body, resulting in a seven-day fast..."

"I won’t be scared of supernatural movies anymore..." murmured Du Dao, quite seriously.

In fact, I usually treated it like a comedy show.

And while we were having our Mind Communication, Anwina had predictably gotten stuck.

A certain Dead Soul that had built up the atmosphere to perfection had only emerged from the TV up to her chest when she let out a wail. Snowflakes formed on the screen due to energy interference quickly turned back into pitch black, and Anwina was propping herself against the edge of the TV, straining to pull herself out, while less than three meters in front of her, the Mercury Lamp watched everything with an expressionless face.

At this point, the entire assembly of Imperial Leaders, this Universe’s most powerful and wisest (??) ruling class, saw their "Naughty Doll Punishment Plan" they had concocted over the night disintegrate completely, turning screams of horror into peals of hysterical laughter.

Anwina was still struggling to pull herself out...

"Turn off Invisibility and shut down the spatial distortion as well, Qianqian release the time, Sayaka go help Big Sister with the cooking," I waved my hand and announced the total failure of this mission, a group of Universal Emperors and Kings were abysmally bad in the field of horror videography, unable to even scare a 92.3cm Doll, "Hey, Little Light~"

While I waited for her to greet me, a Tornado kick came flying at me instead.

"You stupid Human!!!"

Her voice carried a hint of what seemed like grievance—eh? Wasn’t she totally calm just now?

Grabbing the petite Mercury Lamp, I tucked her under my arm and flicked her head lightly: "I was planning to punish you, you troublesome girl. Did you think such a foolish method would fool the eyes of the world’s sharpest minds?"

Mercury Lamp protested and thrashed about trying to continue her attack: "I only intended to fool you for one night, to give you a fright first thing in the morning. I didn’t expect that not even for one night... Ah, I forgot about the Prophet!"

What you said is wrong, it wasn’t the Prophet who turned on this time, it was me, the sharp-eyed Uncle Wang, who saw through your fool’s trick.

"Master... Anwina is still stuck..."

Anwina, who had been intentionally forgotten on the side, finally spoke out in a pitiful voice. She was pushing hard against the frame of the TV, which accidentally switched it on, and the screen that was previously black flickered a couple of times, then suddenly the figure of a middle-aged man holding a little box and ranting appeared, "Throat inflammation, intractable inflammation..."

With a swoosh, still holding onto the Mercury Lamp, I stepped forward and yanked Anwina out: Darn it, this uncle with a face full of wrinkles dares to interfere from behind my maid?

"This piece of Wood is beyond saving."

Lin Xue immediately started mumbling, with Qianqian looking bewildered alongside her. The former was always terrifyingly shrewd, while the latter was always clueless. Why is my household full of such oddities? Lin Xue, could you die from being a bit more foolish?

Qianqian had already released the time, rapidly returning to the main temporal stream which caused the living room to go from night to early morning in a few minutes, just like when a lack of budget necessitates a screen blackout with the words one night passes (of course, this line doesn’t always indicate a lack of budget...) It was Chen Family Mansion from The Ring one moment, and then the room was bathed in the warm morning sun, ready for breakfast.

"Qianqian, help keep an eye on Sandora and don’t let her slip into the kitchen!"

I turned back to give an order and then redirected my gaze to the sofa, where the tiny doll was sitting obediently, showing an expression of understanding unlike any before. It was clear that after having her entire plan fail and getting caught red-handed, even this fearless creature felt a bit awkward. The once prideful and aloof Mercury Lamp, a former princess no less, had now completely turned into the werewolf Mercury Lamp - Broken Teeth.

"Do you realize your mistake?"

I asked her earnestly and coaxingly (Is that grammatically correct?).

"It was just a joke," Mercury Lamp tilted her head like a child, "I just wanted to see if you, this silly human... would feel like you’ve shaken off a burden..."

"Silly girl!" I rushed forward and gave her a noogie, "Is the matter resolved?"

I was referring to that human girl with congenital heart disease. Mercury Lamp insisted on going back largely because of her.

"Mmm, now Little Hui can live a normal life... Silly human, can I go back and visit her occasionally?"

"Of course—And did you go see your sisters?" I suddenly got curious, wondering what kind of stir it would create if this transformed Mercury Lamp appeared before Cang Xingshi and Cui Xingshi who were always on high alert. It might be comparable to Lord Lan charging into the Soul Society while singing ’The East is Red’—If Lord Lan dared to do something like that, it could actually work out since people are always in awe of the twisted.

"I wasn’t planning on visiting them," Mercury Lamp said, a bit wearily laying on the coffee table, "but I accidentally bumped into Zhenhong..."

As if you’d bump into her unless you did it on purpose!

"And then? Fist of Fury or Call of Duty?"

I asked whether it was a head-on fight or a shoot-out since it’s well-known that Mercury Lamp and Zhenhong, the historically most awkward lily pairing (no narcissism intended), can’t meet without clashing.

"I gave her quite a scare!" Mercury Lamp mumbled, with a joy that came from a successful prank that I dared not believe, "I called her ’little sister’, then teleported back here in front of her~~"

I: "..."

I could be absolutely certain that this doll had been thoroughly corrupted by us.

But, well, that’s not too bad. After her trip, Mercury Lamp seemed to have finally shed some burden. Having been subtly influenced by us for so long, a quantitative change finally led to a qualitative change at this moment. It looks like our dear doll has stepped one foot into the Empire’s muddy waters of no morals, and she doesn’t seem likely to climb out.

Then there was the breakfast time, which might or might not have been a welcome back celebration. Everyone seemed to have an unspoken agreement to ignore Mercury Lamp’s prank of a "farewell scene" this one time. They had breakfast as usual, chatted, watched Sandora lick the plates, and observed Mercury Lamp drinking yogurt in bliss, all merry as if nothing had happened in the past twenty-four hours, until after breakfast Big Sister said, "I would like to make a few comments about someone not coming home at night..."

And then the unfortunate doll was dragged away for a critique session.

"Congratulations," Miss Lin nonchalantly sprawled on the couch after breakfast, watching Big Sister take a dejected Mercury Lamp upstairs, while teasing me, "The Daddy Halo has finally triumphed over the depths of shamelessness. I can’t believe you managed to make someone like Mercury Lamp fall—Even I don’t understand how you did it."

Neither do you, nor I—how did you, the venerable Chairman Shui, let us corrupt you like this?

"Wood, I’ve got something to tell you," Miss Lin said, snapping her fingers, her energy undiminished even though I looked utterly exhausted, "Do you remember Lilina by the Santu River back in the day?"

The image of that natural airhead with a serene face, framed by the flowers of the other shore, flashed in my mind.

That girl had almost been categorized as a war missing person by us, with some even calling it an uncertain casualty.

Seeing that, apart from Qianqian playing with a Rubik’s Cube and Little Baobao tearfully watching her stolen cube, everyone else had perked up their ears to listen, Lin Banxian proudly announced, "Latest news from Intelligence: the lost little witch has been found." (To be continued. For what happens next, please log in to www.qidian.com. More Chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!)