The psychiatric hospital had long been abandoned.
Among the overgrown weeds stood rows of weathered tombstones, each one inscribed with the life stories of former residents.
[He was always so happy.
He liked to walk along the edge of the curb, arms outstretched, carefully balancing on each step.
With an axe in his hand.
When someone told him to come down, he’d swing the axe.
“You devils won’t trick me into jumping into lava!” — he’d say.
Poor child.
To save him, I lined the curb with blades.
At last, he slipped and fell.
He danced, he screamed, he glowed.
He melted, he turned to ash…
Beautiful.]
Wu Xiaomi pulled her gaze away from the tombstone.
She looked again at the butler in front of her.
“No rush. We’ve got all the time in the world,” the butler said, sharpening a scalpel under the moonlight.
In the abandoned asylum, a single dim red light cast eerie shadows, making everyone’s face look as if smeared with blood.
Wu Xiaomi had thought that with her divine gear equipped, even a maniac like the butler would be no match for her.
But—
The butler was a Jingye.
And unlike the mindless Jingye monsters outside, this one had intelligence and cunning.
Clearly, this was a small leader-type — more dangerous, more powerful.
She had thought she’d dodged one deadly threat, only to run straight into a greater one.
Walked right into the trap.
Lulutina was paralyzed on the floor in terror.
Wu Xiaomi stood in front of her, staring directly at the strange eye under the butler’s chin.
“You’re the doctor here?”
“That was twelve years ago,” the butler said with a smile. “I helped many patients. That was the happiest time of my life.”
“Helped? By lining the curb with blades and cremating patients?”
The butler shook his head.
“Delusions, depression, OCD, mania… once you get them, you’re as good as dead. No— worse than dead. All you do is burden your family.”
“That’s an illness. It can be treated.”
“It can’t be cured. Heh. They think they’re cured—but the illness just hides. And the longer it hides, the stronger it grows…”
“Sounds like the one who’s sick is you.”
“I’m not sick!!!!”
The butler suddenly widened his eyelids and roared.
He examined the scalpel under the moonlight. Seemingly satisfied with its sharpness, he nodded.
“Alright. Come inside. Lie down quietly.”
Wu Xiaomi raised her horse-slaying sword.
“I’ve got the Resonator. Back off if you want to live.”
…Not that she knew how to use the thing—but he didn’t know that!
Wu Xiaomi flashed the ribbon.
“Ever heard of the Siren’s Dance?”
She lifted her little foot and tapped the anklet.
A hologram of herself performing the Siren’s Dance appeared.
A bit embarrassing… but hopefully it would bluff him for a while.
The butler sneered. “Heh… If you knew how to use the Resonator, would you really have come running to me?”
…Oh, right!
Wu Xiaomi had an epiphany.
Lulutina: “……”
She was used to the sharp thinking she had while her Spirit Hunting instinct was active. Now that it was off, her brain had gotten sluggish.
Spirit Hunting instinct — on.
“There are too many outside. I don’t want to waste energy. But for you, I’m more than enough.” The girl regained her momentum.
“Drop the act. Hmm… Siren’s Dance, fan, ears, that crystal.”
The butler stared at the image of Wu Xiaomi.
His eyebrows twitched in surprise. “A shaman? You’re the shaman from Harvest Village?”
“That’s right! Scared now?”
“Kh… Khahahaha—” The butler burst into laughter. “Another shaman! How interesting… how very interesting!”
Another?
“You’ve met a shaman from Harvest Village?”
Could this psycho have had designs on Ms. Nanalia?
“Of course. But not the current one.”
Not the current one… then…
Nanalia’s parents?
Wait a moment. According to Nanalia’s sister, their parents died to Jingye twelve years ago.
Killed by Jingye. And this psycho butler is a Jingye. And he’d met Nanalia’s parents.
Just a coincidence?
Faintly, Wu Xiaomi sensed the scent of a hidden quest thread.
The name of this strategy was [Final Strategy of the Manggu Mountains—Night of Abundance and Pride].
Not [Jingye].
Which meant, the key to this entire event wasn’t just surviving—it was…
All centered around Nanalia and her sister!
They were the key to breaking this whole thing open!
So, what exactly happened twelve years ago?
Her heart began to race. Even when fleeing for her life just now, her blood hadn’t surged like this.
“Twelve years ago, you were the doctor here.”
Within her Spirit Hunting state, Wu Xiaomi muttered softly.
She let each word she’d heard, every detail, branch out like tendrils of thought, connecting them one by one.
“And also twelve years ago, Nanalia’s parents died to Jingye.”
“And you knew them. You are a Jingye monster.”
So the question was:
Was the butler already a Jingye monster back then?
Or did he become one that year?
If he did become one, then why was he still here in the real world? Why hadn’t he returned to the mirror?
“You killed Nanalia’s parents. But why?” Wu Xiaomi couldn’t figure out the cause and effect.
How could a psycho like this be connected to Nanalia’s parents?
Surely they weren’t mentally ill too?
“Why? Tell me. Tell me what happened twelve years ago and I’ll… I’ll let you cut me a few times.” That last bit came out a little wimpy.
“An artwork doesn’t need to know so much,” the butler replied coldly. “Come inside. Don’t make me use force.”
He stepped slowly toward Wu Xiaomi.
A lightning longsword pierced his chest— but it was like stabbing water. Completely unharmed.
“Run.”
ChatGPT said: But the butler’s hand still managed to grab Wu Xiaomi by the collar.
This wasn’t fair… Wu Xiaomi thought, You can touch me, but I can’t touch you?
Gritting her teeth, she slashed the sword toward her own collar.
But once again, the blade passed right through the butler’s hand.
—Even at the point of contact, it still wasn’t corporeal?
Then what was the principle here? How could it grab her?
Could it be…
Gravity?
Like in the movie Interstellar—manipulating reality from a distant alternate dimension using gravity?
“Kh… khh—”
Wu Xiaomi was hoisted up by the collar, the fabric tightening and making it hard to breathe.
“Riiiing riiiiing——”
Seriously? Who the hell was calling now?!
She answered.
[Hmm, looks like you’re about to die.]
A slow, arrogant voice came from the other end of the video call.
It was the servant of the Spirit of Pride… Nanalia’s sister?!
“Resonator… tell me… how to use it… hurry—”
[Do you believe in the Spirit of Abundance?]
If it can save me, then yes.
[The Resonator isn’t some ancient relic. It used to belong to two people.]
Two people?
Don’t tell me…
[Those two pitiful fools were once our parents — mine and Nanalia’s.]
[They thought they could end the Jingye. End this centuries-old tradition of fear. Let people come outside, see the fullest moon of the year… sit in a pavilion like you, eating mooncakes and basking in that romantic glow.]
[That night, they tucked me and Nanalia into bed early. Then they left the shrine.]
[And from that moment on, I never saw them again.]
“……”
Sis, I’m about to die — can you just get to the point?
Can I press space to skip this dialogue?
[The Resonator is a halo.]
A halo?
Okay, and?
[It’s a real pain to activate. First, you need control over a sequence below 70, then you have to recite a crazy long incantation… all that theatrical nonsense the Spirit of Abundance loves.]
So how do I use it?!
[It’s too much of a hassle, so I’m not teaching you.]
“……”
Haha.
Then why the hell did you call?
You just wanted to laugh at me, didn’t you?
[You’ve served a Sin Witch too, haven’t you? I don’t know which one—but I can sense it.]
Yes.
The lsp witch.
[Sin Blood is a good thing… Little one, you’re quite a treasure.]
Okay, okay, okay, I get it!
Space, space, space, space!
[Come on, cut your wrist. Ble—]
“Shlick—”
Wu Xiaomi didn’t hesitate— she slashed her wrist deep, slicing right into the vein.
[…Just a scratch would’ve done.] The woman’s next words came in late.
Damn it.
Blood surged out like living tendrils, stabbing into the Resonator.
The excess spread to the lightning blade as well.
Golden light burst forth from her wrist and the sword, blazing into reality!