Yue also stood up and patted [Hua Jun]’s shoulder, indicating she was fine.
She was not wrong.
No one was wrong.
Wrong was that mastermind who dared not show his face.
Wrong was the Virtual Domain; wrong were those deities who played with the human world.
Yue lowered her head and buried her face in shadow.
Sure enough, deities and the like……
Could all just die.
……
Watching Yue walk with heavy steps toward the last barrier, [Hua Jun]’s brows and eyes were full of worry.
[Heaven’s Hearing] had let her learn, at almost no cost, coping methods for the vast majority of psychological problems.
As Yue’s partner, she could naturally catch and carry the other party’s countless kinds of emotion.
Yet only for the trauma brought by Virtual Domain divine curses could she provide no comfort at all.
Because even this kind of uncontrollable hatred itself was a curse of the Virtual Domain.
Yue did not know that she also had a curse on her.
Because arrogance could not examine itself……
……
Zzzap—!!
Dazzling red radiance tore open the last barrier like mad.
Yet Yue turned her head aside.
She did not dare look.
In a Virtual Domain, any mistake, any poor state would be infinitely magnified.
Lin Lianxue carried the curse 【Obsession】.
Once she decided something was a certain way, that thought could not be changed.
So Yue had never wanted her to enter a Virtual Domain by any means.
Tragically, she had joined the CIA.
This organization destined to confront Virtual Domains.
The Virtual Domain’s boundary was a stretch of chaotic blur; from somewhere above, several beams of light came down, bright and glaring.
Perhaps Yue’s silence was too heavy—heavy enough that the air felt somewhat sunk, heavy enough that everyone was pressed in place.
Yue finally summoned the courage to turn her head and discovered Lin Lianxue kneeling crisply before the black wooden table, blankly hugging the bronze mirror in a daze.
Her outfit was still the same as yesterday afternoon at the villa—plain cyan short dress, over-knee white socks, youthful and full of vitality.
Yue silently walked forward.
Mu Bai hesitated a moment, then quietly followed behind.
Yue looked at the bronze mirror.
On it was a 9×9 grid of color blocks—precisely the final stage of 【Distinguish Color】.
Hearing footsteps, the girl sharply twisted her head: “Mu Bai?”
“Miss……” Mu Bai could not help responding. “I’m here.”
She still had consciousness.
She still remembered.
She had not gotten lost.
Yue somewhat agitatedly trotted up in front of Lin Lianxue.
“Mu Bai……” The girl lifted her head toward Yue’s direction. A warm sensation came from in front of her, along with slightly flustered breathing.
Honestly, Yue truly still was not ready to reunite with Lin Lianxue.
But she still could not help stretching out a trembling hand and gently cupping the other party’s face.
Same as when she had seen her at the villa—this face was still so beautiful, brows and eyes curved, the corners of her mouth slightly tilted up, as if she might at any moment suppress a mischievous smile and then naughty-scratch Yue’s palm.
But those eyes—those pure, clear pupils like a fawn’s.
The irises had completely vanished……
Like a mirror smashed until nothing remained, hollow pupils opened blankly toward empty air.
Lin Lianxue gave an embarrassed little laugh, like a child who had done something wrong:
“From now on…… I won’t be able to paint anymore, will I……”
Yue opened her mouth.
She very much wanted to say something, but it was as if a stone were stuck in her throat.
She remembered the private message the girl had last replied to her with:
[As my enlightenment mentor, I’m truly very happy that you can come back and continue creating!]
Her own casual action had led this idiot into the field of painting.
Yet she kept fleeing, and time after time destroyed her ability to paint……
Yue took the bronze mirror and slowly tapped on it.
This time her clearing speed was slower than all previous times combined.
Like a student who knew she had bombed the exam and would rather never see the score.
Red light flashed; the barrier dissipated.
The bronze mirror shrank to palm size and flew straight to hover above Lin Lianxue’s head.
【Eye Eclipse】: Two Hundred Fifty-Five
Two hundred fifty-five layers……
How many kinds of color could there be in a human eye……
Yue stretched out a hand and waved it in front of Lin Lianxue’s eyes.
She had no reaction at all.
Her gaze went straight through Yue’s palm, through Yue’s face, through empty air, through the entire world.
Yeah.
She couldn’t paint anymore.
Losing any one color was heavy for a painter—much less all of them.
Yue pulled out her phone.
The note she had for Lin Lianxue was still that “Stupid Imouto.”
She silently deleted “Stupid.”
But notes could be changed—how were you supposed to change a Virtual Domain’s curse……
Lin Lianxue alone—Yue was unwilling to take her to gamble on the odds of successful deicide.
Even if there was only the slightest possibility of failure, Yue was unwilling to risk it.
“How can you be this stupid……”
Yue finally spoke, her voice hoarse.
The instant she heard the voice, Lin Lianxue went blank for a moment.
This voice sounded super young, giving her a very familiar feeling.
“Eh? It’s you?” Lin Lianxue was somewhat surprised.
No wonder she had felt Mu Bai’s hands suddenly get smaller, and especially soft.
She immediately groped and caught Yue’s wrist, carefully kneading the other party’s palm—scratch and it shrank back, feedback sensitive.
It was the familiar feeling.
Yue was touched on the bruised spot and hissed as she sucked in cold air, but even with her teeth clicking from being clenched, this time she did not resist.
Lin Lianxue was somewhat delighted, but then her voice grew urgent again:
“How can you be in such a dangerous place?!”
“Did you get pulled in by accident?”
“Or were you grabbed by bad people? Don’t be afraid. Big Sister’s here. Big Sister will protect you.”
As she spoke, dazzling golden light bloomed from her hands and gently wrapped Yue’s body.
The originally bruised palm actually slowly recovered its pink, tender look under this radiance.
[Heaven’s Blessing]
A rule-type Heaven-Chosen Skill: barrier + damage reduction + purification + healing.
A self-consistent mechanism paired with incomparably noble numbers, worthy of the honor of the strongest defensive Heaven-Chosen Skill.
Yet even something as strong as [Heaven’s Blessing] could not resist the erosion of a curse.
Yue did not answer Lin Lianxue’s pressing questions, nor did she pull her hand free.
This time, she did not flee again.
She even actively sat into Lin Lianxue’s arms, curled up, and even nuzzled further in, as if that could reduce the guilt in her heart by a few points.
Lin Lianxue went wooden for a moment, then just like that held Yue and tightly hugged her in her arms.
She buried her head in the other party’s hair and greedily sniffed, the happy look on her face like a little fox that had eaten honey.
But after a while she said full of regret again:
“Sorry. I still haven’t drawn you yet……”
“Big Sister is really good at painting.”
“I learned it all from a very amazing teacher……”
She smiled, seeming truly to see her own works before her eyes, so this time she smiled with especial confidence.
She let Yue go and waved toward another direction:
“Mu Bai, did you see? This is that super cute child I told you about, right? I didn’t lie to you, did I—truly super cute, right……”
“……”
“Mu Bai?”
“Why are you crying……”
“I’m sorry, Miss…… I’m sorry……”
Mu Bai wanted to walk forward.
The emotions surging in her heart clearly told her that even when they had been in the car, Miss’s heart had not been this sad.
Something like going blind—how could it be lightly covered with a single “can’t paint anymore.”
She could not help wanting to hug her own Miss.
But what came at her was a black mass of bronze mirrors, like a shield, standing between her and Lin Lianxue.
Yue silently stood up.
Her petite form, compared with Mu Bai’s tall figure, looked somewhat comical.
But in aura, merely standing there in silence, she was an unshakable divine peak.
“CIA.” Yue lifted her head toward the chaotic sky, her calm face showing neither sorrow nor joy.
“Now we are enemies.”
The instant the words fell—
Shua—!!!
Violent blade light, carrying unmatched momentum, tore through and chopped fiercely toward Mu Bai’s front.