I'm an Undercover Witch, Not a Bed-Warming Witch!

Chapter 83

83. Meng Zi

Meng Lian hugged Gabriel, and the other's warm body temperature gradually calmed her panicked heart.

Gabriel's body was very stiff. She felt the warm, soft fragrance in her arms, and her stiff hands tentatively wrapped around Meng Lian's slender waist.

"It's okay, it's okay, everything will pass."

Gabriel whispered comfort in Meng Lian's ear. She knew perfectly well that Meng Lian bumping into something was just an excuse, but she didn't want to ask what had really caused this state. She just wanted to help Meng Lian cheer up.

"Ah, sorry, I did something inappropriate."

Meng Lian released Gabriel. She realized what she had been doing, and her small face flushed slightly.

Fortunately, Gabriel didn't mind. She waved her hand.

"It's fine, it's fine, I don't mind."

Gabriel looked at Meng Lian and smiled gently.

"If you're feeling down, you can hug me anytime. After all, you've helped me so much."

"Mm, thank you then."

Meng Lian took a deep breath. For some reason, having Gabriel by her side made her heart much calmer.

"So, see you tomorrow?"

"See you tomorrow, goodnight."

Watching Gabriel's retreating figure as she returned to her own dorm, Meng Lian went back inside.

The dorm was pitch dark. Meng Lian turned on the light, and brightness flooded the room.

Meng Lian took her toiletries to the bathroom and soaked in the bathtub. Suddenly, loneliness struck from all directions like a demon from hell.

Xiao Zi, I will definitely find out the truth about everything...

And I will definitely come home!

……

"Meng Lian..."

Next door, Gabriel hugged her phone, staring at her private chat interface with Meng Lian. She typed words but then deleted them, repeating this over and over, revealing the conflict in her heart.

"Oh right, Phoeby!"

Gabriel suddenly thought of Phoeby. Her eyes lit up, and she sent Phoeby a message, briefly describing the scene from earlier.

Phoeby was currently in her manga studio, frantically rushing to meet a deadline. When she saw Gabriel's message, she fell into silence.

Hah? Things are developing that fast? They're already hugging? And Meng Lian initiated it?

Phoeby: "Seems like a good sign. Lili, do you know about the suspension bridge effect? It's when someone in an extremely insecure state will treat everything around them as a source of safety. If you show Class Monitor more care right now, you definitely have a chance."

Gabriel's heart started pounding furiously.

Lili: "But wouldn't that be taking advantage of her?"

Phoeby: "Oh please, when it comes to love, there's no such thing as taking advantage. It's just meeting the right person at the right time. Class Monitor is feeling down right now, and you're there to comfort her. Doesn't that make you the right person? Trust me, I'm never wrong. Just remember to ask me to be your bridesmaid later."

Brides... bridesmaid?

Gabriel's face instantly turned scarlet. She buried her small face into her pillow, endlessly fantasizing about the scene of herself and Meng Lian wearing white wedding dresses, exchanging vows.

So, so embarrassing...

But if that really happened, Meng Lian would surely look beautiful, wouldn't she?

……

After finishing her bath, Meng Lian saw that Gabriel had sent her a message.

Gabriel: "Meng Lian, are you feeling better? My big sister once said that if you're in a bad mood, try listening to some songs. Maybe you'll forget your troubles for a while~"

Gabriel: "I don't know what kind of songs you like, but I can sing you a song from my Sky Ring Tribe. I'm not very good at singing, hope you don't mind."

Gabriel: [Voice Message]

Meng Lian tapped on the voice message. A girl's gentle voice came from the phone. Gabriel was singing in her Sky Ring Tribe's language, melodious and pleasant, like an oriole in a mountain stream. It seemed to possess a magic that could soothe people's hearts.

Meng Lian didn't even realize that a smile lingered on her lips the entire time. She lay in bed, saved the voice message, set it to loop, and slowly drifted into sleep amidst the singing.

……

"Waaah, you're so unreasonable!"

The skinny boy had tears all over his face. Beside him stood a girl a head taller, carrying a large sword on her shoulder, looking completely disdainful.

"Tch, what reason or not reason? My sword IS reason!"

"B, but, didn't we agree? I'd go earn money, and you'd go cultivate. Why would you..."

"Look at you, all scrawny like a bean sprout. If you go over there, who knows how they'll bully you. Stupid big brother, I'd better go instead. I'm a cultivator, they can't beat me."

The girl crouched down and patted the skinny boy's little head, as if she were the older sister and he were the younger brother.

"No! I'm the only man in our family. You're my little sister, and a cultivator too. You should spend your time on cultivation, not waste it on things like this."

The boy's attitude was very firm. He pushed away the girl's hand and turned his head, refusing to look at her in a fit of pique.

"Hey, Meng Lian, are you asking for a beating?"

The girl raised an eyebrow and threatened to lift her palm. But unexpectedly, the boy didn't dodge. Instead, he glared at her. "You wouldn't dare! I'm your big brother!"

Although he had given all the good food to his little sister since childhood, resulting in his malnourished appearance that made people mistake him for the younger sibling, he had never forgotten his responsibility, his duty as an older brother.

The girl was a bit angry, but her raised palm ultimately turned into a gentle pat.

"Sigh, fine. After you go there, if anyone bullies you, remember to tell me. I'm a sword cultivator, I'm really strong!"

"Of course. Besides, I'm very strong too, don't look down on me!"

The boy flexed his scrawny arm, making the girl laugh strangely.

"Truly a stupid big brother, hahaha!"

The boy's job was working at a spirit stone mine, physical labor. He had to attend a regular school during the day and dig for ore at night. But the people at the mine were nice, and no one bullied him. Every night when he came home, he would buy a roast chicken for his little sister. As they ate, he would tell her how well the people at the mine treated him. The girl just listened quietly, nodding with a smile from time to time.

"Big sis, we're taking good care of your brother, look at this sword..."

The fierce-looking mine supervisor stared at the giant sword beside him that was taller than his entire body, cold sweat streaming down his bald head.

"Good work. Remember to give my stupid big brother a raise."

"Of course, of course..."

This scene played out every year. Later, the girl cultivated to the Nascent Soul stage and became a high-ranking member of the Alliance. Her meetings with the boy became rare, but the bond between them never changed.

"Yo, stupid big brother, what's the special occasion today? You're so happy, making so many dishes?"

The girl seemed unchanged. Time left no trace on her whatsoever.

The boy, on the other hand, had grown from a bean sprout into a delicate young man, though he was still a bit shorter than the girl.

"Your big brother passed his job interview. Fifteen thousand a month, pretty impressive, right?"

The boy took out his employment letter. This was a great job, light workload with good pay. Aside from being boring, it had no downsides.

"Really? Stupid big brother, you're too amazing!"

The girl put on an expression of great surprise and clapped her hands, greatly satisfying the boy's vanity.

"Hehe, with this job, I can support myself now. You don't need to worry about me anymore. Just focus on your cultivation and make sure to beat those witches until they flee!"

"Hehe, of course! I'm a genius, I believe I'll definitely chase those witches away in the future!"

Happy times always seemed fleeting. Finally, the moment of parting arrived.

"If I went somewhere very, very far away, what would you do?"

"Then of course I'd always wait for you to come home, stupid big brother!"

"..."

"Hah..."

Meng Zi opened her eyes and discovered that her corners were already wet with tears.

She had dreamed of her stupid big brother again, that stubborn but incredibly responsible idiot.

That night, she hadn't noticed anything wrong. After dinner and sleep, she discovered that Meng Lian had vanished, as if he had evaporated into thin air.

She went crazy. She rushed to Meng Lian's workplace, only to find that his former position had been taken over by a little fat man, the son of Meng Lian's original supervisor.

"Where is he? Didn't I tell you to look after him?"

With her great sword pressed against the supervisor's thick neck, cold sweat poured down his face, but he tried to maintain an appearance of calm.

"He went to carry out a top-secret mission. You have no authority to view the details."

That day, Meng Zi went berserk and tore through the Great Wall. Without her brother, she had lost her reason. It was only when the Wall Guard arrived that they managed to suppress her.

Meng Zi looked around the cramped room. This was a specially made prison that could isolate her spiritual power, preventing her from using her Nascent Soul cultivation.

Clatter...

A noise came from outside, and a mature woman wearing glasses walked in.

"Your brother has been found..."

Those words instantly made Meng Zi's eyes go wide. Her breathing quickened, and she lunged at the woman, only to be yanked back by the chains binding her.

"Where is he? Tell me, where is he!"

"Witch Academy."

The woman closed the door firmly and shut off the monitoring equipment. At this moment, only she and Meng Zi were in the entire room.

She handed Meng Zi a document. Meng Zi took it, her small face turning pale with rage.

It turned out that the dog of a supervisor had engineered everything to give Meng Lian's job to his son. He had tricked Meng Lian into becoming an undercover witch, then provided a set of falsified documents with traps, all to make the witches discover the inconsistencies and eliminate Meng Lian.

"Everyone else who knew about this matter has been cleaned up. Now only the two of us in this world know the full story."

The woman's expression was serious. "We have a mole in the Alliance. Not long ago, all our undercover lists were leaked. Now, except for Meng Lian, we have no other undercover agents left. She is currently our only hope."

"She's not an undercover agent at all! She was tricked!"

Meng Zi roared. But this room was soundproofed well, so nothing could be heard outside.

"Yes, she was tricked. We've also learned that before this, those people used this method to lure many aspiring youths like her to become undercover agents among the witches. But those people were all eventually discovered by the witches and sacrificed."

"However, your brother may not have been discovered yet, but being discovered is only a matter of time. You now have two choices. First, consider your brother already sacrificed. In that case, I'll erase the memory of our conversation just now, and you'll remain imprisoned here forever."

"The second choice is to go to Witch Academy, find your brother, and become her only contact person."