Once she figured out how to deal with the monster, the rest of the battle became much simpler.
She only needed to keep throwing Nightmare Power spears at the butterfly to easily erase it from the world.
After some time, Luo Shuangyue finally let out a long sigh of relief as she watched the Weird Butterfly be completely purified.
“What a troublesome creature… cough, cough.”
It might have looked like Luo Shuangyue had easily destroyed the monster, but her body was already riddled with wounds.
She was using the power of a monster to wield the mana of a Soul Butterfly! Their compatibility was terrible.
Even if the mana was obedient, its very existence was the greatest harm to Luo Shuangyue.
Her right hand, which had made the most contact with the mana, had already turned completely charred black.
That part of her body was almost entirely necrotic—she would have to cut it off and grow a new one.
This was no small cost for Luo Shuangyue. She wasn’t some pampered rich kid who could replenish her magic endlessly.
“What exactly was that thing?” After confirming that the monster was completely destroyed, Anxing flew back to Luo Shuangyue’s side and asked with confusion.
“Who knows? In any case, it’s nothing good. That Evil Desire of Destruction you monsters are born with probably comes from that thing.” Luo Shuangyue flexed her aching right hand and gave up the idea of cutting it off for now.
It was still usable for the time being, so she would just make do.
Slow healing might be more torturous, but it used less mana. Right now, Luo Shuangyue had to make every drop of precious magic count.
“Look, isn’t this child completely different from Xiaozi?” She pointed to the Demon Emperor girl she had just recovered, then at Xiaozi, who still had a violent streak even after brainwashing.
Luo Shuangyue felt there was no need to explain further.
One was a good child, the other a bad one—and the difference was likely what she had drawn out with her own magic.
“True, they’re different. But what good does that do?” Anxing nodded. What Luo Shuangyue said made sense, but what did it matter to her?
Her goal was to conscript soldiers and get them to join their great cause to destroy the Sanctuary and the world.
She wasn’t here to treat the psychological issues of newborn kin.
Besides, fixing their psychological issues might actually hinder her plans.
“Are you willing to join us in destroying the world?” Anxing walked up to the Monster Girl and asked bluntly.
The Monster Girl’s reply was just as blunt: “Why should I destroy the world?”
Yes, after Luo Shuangyue had extracted her innate desire for destruction, what reason did she have to be at odds with the world?
There was no need. You wanted to destroy the world because it was your nature, but that wasn’t her nature.
Without the desire for destruction, could one still be called a monster?
It was a question worth pondering.
Seeing Anxing and the Monster Girl staring each other down and dragging the atmosphere into a heavy abyss, Luo Shuangyue quickly spoke up to break the silence.
“Let’s talk about this later, OK?” She raised her hand, stepped between the two, and physically blocked their line of sight.
She then turned to face the Monster Girl, put a hand on her shoulder, and gently pushed her to sit aside.
“We can talk about something more valuable—like your name.”
“Name?”
“Yes, a name. She’s Anxing, I’m Mingdie, that’s Xiaozi—these are our names.” Luo Shuangyue introduced their little trio, then said to the confused girl, “You should have your own name, too.”
She could feel that compared to Xiaozi, this girl—whose birth she had interrupted—had a much more mature consciousness.
She might be a little naïve, but she possessed some knowledge that a monster shouldn’t have.
So, Luo Shuangyue decided to let the girl name herself.
“A name…” The girl fell into deep thought, unable to come up with an answer right away.
Taking advantage of the pause, Luo Shuangyue hurriedly got up to talk to Anxing.
In her eyes, the Monster Girl’s problem was easy to solve. It was Anxing’s problem that was the real headache.
After all, unlike girls without any desire for destruction, Anxing is a true monster who wants to destroy everything.
What Anxing needs is a warrior, but Luo Shuangyue ended up handing her a peace-loving little girl.
This is absolutely not what was promised, all right.
“She has no fighting spirit,” Anxing commented coldly.
She would have preferred if the girl was biting people at random right now, rather than seeing this fellow kin showing such a weak expression.
“Everyone has their own ambitions, you know. I’ll help you try to persuade her again later. At the very least, it should be fine to have her do some logistics work.” In order to protect this precious sapling, Luo Shuangyue quickly assured Anxing that she would help convince the girl to join their world-destroying enterprise.
Right now, she was no match for Anxing, so she had to play along.
She needed to quietly build her strength, and only after she had enough to defeat Anxing would she lay her cards on the table.
As for whether she should keep making little moves like this when facing the Black Calamity in the future…
Luo Shuangyue figured that before she was confident she could defeat Anxing, it was better to keep her wings folded for now.
Turning one monster was a small matter, but if she turned every monster, that would be a huge deal.
But Anxing wasn’t stupid; she could obviously see Luo Shuangyue was deliberately stirring up trouble. If she stabbed Luo Shuangyue right through the heart, then what?
Patience. She had to endure, understand?
“I absolutely won’t do this sort of thing again in the future. Who knew she’d end up like this after eating my Nightmare Power.” With a thoughtful glance at Luo Shuangyue, Anxing was willing to believe this incident was just an accident.
If Luo Shuangyue really had that kind of power down to an art, then Xiaozi should be just like that monster girl now.
But Xiaozi wasn’t like that; her viciousness was still there, only suppressed by Luo Shuangyue.
“I believe you.”
“Well, thanks a lot, really.” Rubbing her hands together, Luo Shuangyue quickly ran back to the monster girl’s side and told her the outcome of her discussion with Anxing.
While she was at it, she asked the girl if she had thought of a name for herself.
The girl sat on the ground hugging her knees, pitch-black eyes staring straight ahead, her gaze somewhat unfocused.
After a long while, she answered hesitantly, “I… I don’t know, but I think I remember my name is Zheng.”
“Which Zheng? The ‘fight’ Zheng, or the ‘gu zheng’ Zheng?” Luo Shuangyue mimed playing an instrument.
Zheng thought for a moment and chose the latter.
“It’s the Zheng that makes beautiful music,” she said softly.
Luo Shuangyue pressed her palms together, looking delighted.
“Then, do you remember anything else?”
The name wasn’t the important part—the important part was what Zheng said: she “remembers” her name is Zheng!
This name wasn’t given to her by someone else—it was something she remembered herself!
If she were just an ordinary monster, why would she remember such a name?
Not just a sound, but the entire character—this alone proved she was different from other monsters.
Luo Shuangyue was looking forward to seeing just how much more this unique monster girl could recall.
Zheng hugged her knees and lapsed into deep thought again.
Luo Shuangyue wasn’t in a hurry; she had time, and these things couldn’t be rushed. Haste makes waste.
Better to give Zheng some more time, let her dig around in the ocean of her blank memories, and see if she could find anything useful.
“Anxing, what’s next? I have to take care of Zheng now, so I probably can’t run around with you.”
“I still need to search for more kin nearby; I can’t stay here.” Super wage-slave Anxing showed there was no way she’d rest—not in this lifetime.
Now that she was a monster, sleep was a waste of time; she’d be working tirelessly day and night to finish her tasks.
“I see. So, is there a way for you to track my location?” Luo Shuangyue continued asking.
“What do you want to do?”
“Well, look at Xiaozi and Zheng. They can’t keep up with our speed, and bringing so many people along to recruit others isn’t necessary. I think we should split up.” Luo Shuangyue spread her hands.