novelraw Chapter 264: The Illness is Named Love, Lu Ya's Heart
Chapter 264: The Illness is Named Love, Lu Ya's Heart
The crying still echoed, yet Shion did not step closer, she just stood to the side watching.
The little Black Dragon phantom circled anxiously beside Lu Ya, wringing its tiny paws like a fly, and before long it began crying along with her,
wiping the girl's tears with its little paws, choking out:
“Mom, stop crying. If you cry, I cry too.”
Crying, it then looked up at Shion, “Dad, say something!”
Shion glared coldly at the little clown, then checked her magical outfit and her internal condition.
The problems were not severe. Aside from a drastic drop in mana and limitations on magic, the effects on her personally weren’t huge.
It was possible that when she had separated from the Golden Calamity Dragon King earlier, the Black Dragon’s suppression had been disrupted, allowing it to move freely.
The Black Dragon’s ability to fully manifest might very well be a function of this world bubble.
If so, the world bubble might be more useful than she had imagined….The question now was whether this world bubble alone possessed an ability similar to manifesting inner images into reality.
Shion had originally planned to smash the world bubble and leave, but now she intended to study it further, to see if it could separate and sustain its own source of magical energy.
If that were possible, the world bubble would be incredibly valuable to her current situation.
“Mom, don’t cry. Whoever bullied you, tell Little Black and I’ll beat them up for you!”
The little Black Dragon spoke fiercely to comfort Lu Ya, now prostrate in front of her.
Soon it transformed into the form of a little girl, no longer a mere phantom.
Her nose and mouth resembled the Emperor’s somewhat, but her eyes and other features bore traces of Shion.
As if someone had cut and pasted the two faces together into one perfect composite.
Since both girls were attractive, even a random patchwork came out as stunning.
It could only be said that the stats were filled that way; nothing could be done.
Because she was not much shorter than Shion, if they stood side by side they would not look like father and daughter,
but more like sisters.
Now the little Black Dragon lay in front of Lu Ya, looking pitiful, seeming even sadder than Lu Ya herself, “Mom, what happened? Why are you crying so bitterly…”
As she spoke she began to cry again.
Shion grew a bit impatient and planned to pick the Black Dragon up and toss it out.
But then Lu Ya wiped her tears and finally spoke:
“I’m not your mother.”
The little girl nodded repeatedly, imitating Lu Ya as she wiped her tears, “No, it’s fine. I’ll call you Mom, you call me sister, we can each have our part, I don’t mind. Mom don’t cry, Sister will beat them up for you!”
Lu Ya, who had been crying, finally burst into a “pfft” of laughter.
Her smile, like the first sunrise, dazzled.
In an instant, it seemed all the bad feelings were wiped away.
The little Black Dragon laughed along too.
Lu Ya took out a handkerchief to wipe the little Black Dragon’s tears. The little Black Dragon carefully and earnestly wiped Lu Ya’s tears in return,
a scene of mother and daughter harmony.
After a long while, their moods improved somewhat, and the little Black Dragon quietly asked again, “So what exactly happened, Mom…”
Only then did Lu Ya hiccup and say, “My… my treasure is gone.”
“What treasure?”
“Jars, lots and lots of jars.” Lu Ya choked, “They were all my most important treasures, and they’re all gone…”
“We’ll help you find them!”
Saying that, the little Black Dragon ran over to Shion, grabbed her hand, “Dad, help!”
“Get lost.”
A single slap sent the little magical ball flying.
It hit the ground, rolled, and landed by Lu Ya, startling her. Before she could react, the little Black Dragon scrambled back to Shion using all four limbs,
half-kneeling to grab Shion’s hand again!
“I’m not leaving! You have to help today!”
Her tone even had a hint of viciousness. Shion sneered coldly, “What if I don’t?”
The little Black Dragon dropped to its knees with a thud, “Then I’ll kneel and beg you! You must help, if you don’t I’ll kowtow, I’ll kowtow you to death!”
Then it forcefully smashed its forehead onto the ground; the first strike drew blood.
“Kowtow you to death, kowtow you to death, help!”
Lu Ya hurried over and hugged the little girl who was frantically bowing her head, “What are you doing!”
She hugged the little Black Dragon, then glanced at Shion.
What a pretty little sister....
She became momentarily dazed.
She had intended to scold, but looking into those eyes, which were half a head shorter than her own, she hesitated.
Then she murmured, “You look a little like my lover, like husband-and-wife features?”
Then she hurriedly shook her head, “No, not that.”
Still as nonsensical as in her memories.
Glancing at her old friend, Shion merely grabbed the little Black Dragon with one hand
and prepared to leave.
“Excuse me, do you know Jiang Si?”
Unexpectedly, the girl followed them and asked that.
Lu Ya trotted, staying close at her side, glanced at the White Fox thrown on the ground in the distance, her gaze flickered but she said nothing, only whispering beside Shion, “You kind of look like him.”
“No.”
Although the little Black Dragon was indignant, hearing its boss say so, it did not dare expose her identity.
It could only pout and bow its head.
In its heart it silently prayed that its mom would blow the boss’s cover.
Unfortunately, Lu Ya only gave an apologetic smile, “Sorry, maybe I miss him too much…”
Shion did not say much either, and unexpectedly asked, “What are you looking for?”
The little Black Dragon had been contemplating whether to risk everything to let Lu Ya’s mom know the girl before them was Jiang Si,
but hearing the boss ask herself, it froze.
It looked up in surprise at its boss and pinched her wrist.
This touch doesn’t feel fake...
Then Shion nearly smacked it senseless with a slap.
“They’re some treasures related to my lover.”
At this mention Lu Ya’s eyes reddened again, “After coming here, I couldn’t find them. They were the last mementos my lover left me. I can’t find them anywhere, there’s no one else here.”
Her voice choked again, “He would definitely hate me. They were the most important things...”
The little Black Dragon watched with aching pity, then tearfully looked at Shion, “Boss, will you really help?”
Shion paused, then looked at that familiar friend and asked, “Do you have a photo?”
At the news that Jiang Si might help, Lu Ya sniffed and asked cautiously, “You really will help me?”
“No.” The purple-haired girl said lightly, “I’ll just take a look. If nothing, then scram.”
Hearing herself insulted, Lu Ya wasn’t angry—rather, she smiled with a touch of nostalgia.
“Ah, he talks like that too. My lover also used to talk like that…”
“Is it here?”
“No.” Lu Ya didn’t elaborate. She took a small jar from her bosom.
The jar was not big, like a glass cup, filled with a transparent liquid.
She did not call it water because the liquid flowed not like water but like a slightly viscous potion.
That detail wasn’t important; what mattered was the object floating inside.
It was an eyeball.
Lu Ya stroked the glass cup adoringly as if it were her lover, rubbing it gently against her cheek.
“My lover’s body is missing. Could you please help me find it?”
"......
The little Black Dragon, who had just been feeling pity, inhaled sharply.
It stared at the eyeball, then at Lu Ya.
My mom collects human organs now, what a pervert...
“This is Jiang Si’s, right?”
What shocked it more was that Shion casually said this.
The girl immediately got angry, “Mom is not like that…”
“Is she?”
Before it could finish, Lu Ya bashfully admitted it.
That silenced the little Black Dragon.
A moment of trust and openness had been exchanged for a lifetime of introversion and social withdrawal… Mom, how could you dismember Dad?
“But how did you recognize it?”
Sensing the issue, Lu Ya’s gaze grew subtle, “Do you know Jiang Si?”
“Not really.”
Shion stuck to her answer, “Just a guess.”
Relieved, Lu Ya patted her small chest, “You scared me. I thought you knew him.”
“Knowing him isn’t a big deal, right?” the little Black Dragon muttered, “Why be afraid?”
“Because my lover didn’t have female friends. In school he had almost no contact with female classmates. Generally, other girls didn’t dare approach him.”
Holding the jar with the eyeball, Lu Ya suddenly began to chatter animatedly, “He has a weird personality, wasn’t great at studying, short like me, often got into fights. Some small-time tough girls tried to go after him, but they only wanted him to beat people up for them, so I drove them off secretly.”
She rambled on and on.
Shion was used to it—this girl would suddenly open up and flood conversation on certain topics, then crack an incomprehensible dry joke.
Luckily she hadn’t this time; after she finished she shyly scratched her head, “Sorry for saying so much. Anyway, because my lover hadn’t really interacted with girls, I was a bit scared. This lady is so pretty, I’m afraid my lover might be rude…”
The little Black Dragon tried not to laugh, glancing at Lu Ya’s mom, who was still scrutinizing Shion with an embarrassed look, “Sorry, maybe I’m oversensitive. I’m not trying to control him, I’m just afraid he won’t get along with other girls…”
“Actually you’re afraid someone will take your lover,” the little Black Dragon said.
Lu Ya blushed and waved her hands frantically,
“No, no, not at all…”
The eyeball in the jar bobbed as she spoke.
Under Shion and the little Black Dragon’s staring, she lowered her head with difficulty, “Well, a little bit.”
As the little Black Dragon fought to hold back its expression, Shion looked at the eyeball, “Don’t worry, I have nothing with him.”
“That’s good.”
Then Shion pointed at the jar in Lu Ya’s hands, “Why dismember him?”
The little Black Dragon: “I know this. Yandere types do this. Because they want to monopolize their lover, they completely dismember them, then morbidly collect them to admire. Definitely like that…”
“N-No!”
Lu Ya denied vehemently, then whispered, “My lover’s body functions declined and he died. People said to cremate him.”
Shion froze for a moment.
So in that world her ending was death after all?
Not surprising.
“But I didn’t want him to leave.”
Hugging the glass tube with only one eyeball, Lu Ya murmured, “If they cremated him, I’d never see him again. I couldn’t bear that, so I secretly took him out of the hospital and went very far away.”
Now she understood why she hadn’t seen Lu Ya in the imaginal trial.
“But you know, transporting a corpse is hard, so I thought to separate his body and preserve the parts intact. I planned to reassemble him when I reached my destination, so we could always be together…”
Her tone was gentle, even tinged with expectation and happiness for a future life.
But the little Black Dragon felt chills run down its spine.
“He’s already dead, it’s just a corpse.”
“It doesn’t matter, as long as he’s him.” Lu Ya smiled sweetly, as if still dreaming, “I’ll take care of him—corpse or dismembered limb—I’ll care for him the best I can, because I am his wife…”
She blushed as she said it.
Her ear tips reddened as if about to steam.
The little Black Dragon kept bumping its head against its boss like a kitten.
Don’t abandon my mom!
“So why were the other organs lost?”
Seeing Shion’s complete indifference, the little Black Dragon was furious, grinding its teeth, feeling like laughing but unable to, wanting to bite someone.
What a scary attitude!
Lu Ya hung her head in guilt, “It was my fault. I thought sending them with people would be safer. I found someone I trusted, but someone opened my package midway, got scared, threw it away, and called the police. I’ve been looking and looking and finally came here, but I still couldn’t find them…”
Shion glanced around the surroundings once more.
The environment was still significantly different; it shouldn’t be the original world.
Had they lost their way into another world? Or had the original world itself changed?
“Let him find them.”
Before Jiang Si made any promise, the big white dragon had leapt up from her hand, finally smiling broadly, grabbing Jiang Si with one hand and Shion with the other, and hopped excitedly.
“Yay!”
Shion didn’t bother to shake her off. Only Lu Ya hesitated, “Really okay?”
It sounded somewhat familiar.
Oh, she remembered.
When Shion had once rescued Lu Ya from thugs, the first words she spoke were similar.
“Mm.”
But the response that time was different.
“I just won’t help put the pieces back together. I’m not interested.”
Lu Ya smiled gently, “Thanks, I’ll reassemble him myself.”
For Shion, finding body parts wasn’t a problem. Although this world bubble was strange, and expanding demonic sense might be swallowed,
finding pieces of the body would not be difficult.
She led the way. The little Black Dragon, unable to hold onto her hand, instead grabbed her clothes; with the other hand it held Lu Ya and asked, hopping along, “Lu Ya Mom, how did you meet your lover?”
“Hmm…”
Shaking the little Black Dragon’s right hand, Lu Ya looked awkward, “It was love at first sight. My lover loved fighting, had a bad temper, but sometimes that had benefits. The first time we met, he stepped up for me and fought three thugs, and ended up beaten all over for my sake…”
The little Black Dragon’s eyes shone like gems, “Oh~” it cooed.
Shion frowned, “He fought just for the sake of fighting, not to save you?”
“That’s not it.” Lu Ya immediately defended, “Whatever his motives, he did save me and got beaten up. That must have something to do with me.”
The little Black Dragon nodded repeatedly, “Yeah, yeah.”
“Although he didn’t win, he drove those three people off.” The girl’s expression turned admiring, “He’s super awesome!”
“Yeah yeah…” The little Black Dragon paused, “Didn’t win?”
“Yes, at that time the three thugs were really fierce. Though my lover was strong, one against three is tough. Losing was normal, right?”
“Hahaha, yes, haha, very normal, hahaha…”
The thought that the once domineering boss had been trounced by three thugs made the little Black Dragon laugh immoderately.
But it laughed so hard it got smacked in the head and couldn’t laugh anymore.
Still, thinking of it made its heart brim with joy.
Hehe, I’d love to go back and give that dad who once couldn’t beat three thugs a good thrashing...
Hey, do those three thugs know who they beat?
If in the future my boss becomes absolute and achieves One Proof Eternal Proof, those three would be famous for having once defeated a world-level emperor with their Mixed Primordial Three Absolute Technique...
Wherever we go later we can all say: Shion was beaten by three thugs.
The little Black Dragon, delighted at having leverage, said, “What else, what else? Mom, what other stupid things did your lover do?”
“Stupid things? He did many, but the biggest was that he once pushed a truck for me…”
Ignoring the two fools who had already resonated, the three walked toward the station.
Not far north of the school was the station; in the corner to the left was a trash can, and Shion casually rummaged inside and pulled out a bag!
She opened it, and inside was a huge jar containing a hand.
Undoubtedly, it was her own hand, somewhat desiccated but still intact and healthy.
There was a ring on the hand.
Shion shot a glance at Lu Ya, who also wore a ring.
“This is a wedding ring.” Lu Ya immediately grabbed the hand, “Mom had me pick it out. Though Mom later seldom visited the hospital, she often asked how things were. Later she found a time and took me to choose this pair of rings, and we had a simple wedding…”
So it was indeed her mother.
Shion could tell—mothers behaved that way.
The little Black Dragon blinked, “You really got married?”
“Truly married.” Lu Ya hugged the glass jar proudly, “It’s legally married, we registered!”
The little Black Dragon tugged at the boss’s clothes hard.
Shion ignored it and flew with the two of them to a secluded field.
This time they found a leg.
Next was a spot in a sewer where a second leg lay.
Finally at a riverbank they found a third leg….
When Shion saw that third submerged leg, even she couldn’t help a twitch at her mouth.
The little Black Dragon girl screamed, “Ah!” covering her eyes, but peeking through her fingers.
She whispered, “Isn’t this organ a bit… inappropriate?”
“It’s part of my lover’s body. How is that inappropriate?”
The little Black Dragon was bewildered, “Don’t you find it strange?”
Lu Ya didn’t mind, hugging them to her chest, “At first I was a bit shy, but over time it’s fine. When I clean them I see them often, so it’s not weird.”
“Throw them away.”
Shion said expressionlessly.
Lu Ya hugged the three legs tightly, “I can’t throw them away.”
“Throw them away.”
“No.”
“Throw them away.”
“No.”
As the two teetered on the brink of an argument, the little Black Dragon grabbed their hands and shouted, “Don’t fight! Boss, Mom, you can give these to me to keep…”
“No way.”
“Get lost.”
Great, all fire directed at me now.
The little Black Dragon showed a relieved smile; as long as boss and Mom didn’t fight, everything was fine...…
Happily, they chatted as they walked. Lu Ya’s mother was very talkative. The little Black Dragon, having once seen Lu Ya caring for the boss from the boss’s perspective, had been deeply moved.
Back then it decided that Lu Ya would be its mom, and nothing the boss did could change that!
Now finally having a chance to chat properly and stay by her side, it was overjoyed.
The resentment it had felt under the boss’s suppression vanished without a trace.
The boss clearly had a gentle side. Who wouldn’t fall for a girl like Lu Ya?
Just as they were about to finish collecting the remaining limbs,
they reached the edge of a deep crater.
“The last head is in here.”
Shion and the little Black Dragon stood at the rim, looking down into the pit,
when suddenly Lu Ya behind them asked, “You all actually know Jiang Si, right?”
The little Black Dragon glanced at its boss. Shion just squatted at the pit’s edge, idly poking at the soil.
Like a child playing with mud...
“Only seen him.”
“Not just seen him, right? Miss Shion looked very familiar when she saw my lover’s body. You must have been pretty close to him, right?”
The little Black Dragon lowered its head and began to play frantically with the dirt.
Of course they’d been close...
Shion paid no heed to Lu Ya’s words and frowned, peering into the pit.
It was as if she had discovered something.
“How hateful.”
Lu Ya’s tone gradually turned icy.
The little Black Dragon was stunned.
That unfamiliar voice—this was Lu Ya Mom’s voice.
When she tried to stand and turn, it was as if something pinned her down, almost unable to move.
“How hateful. He was somewhere I didn’t know, associating with other girls, showing expressions I never knew, saying words I may never have heard.”
“At the thought of such things…”
Something pierced both Shion and the little Black Dragon at the same time. Blood spurted, splashing into the crater.
The black-pupiled girl drew a knife and muttered:
“It rips my heart like a blade.”
The little Black Dragon clutched its chest, dazed and helplessly cried out, “Lu Ya Mom… why?”
It looked helplessly to its boss for an answer.
But Shion remained unmoved, quietly staring at the pit bottom; even as her body had been pierced she showed no surprise—cold and serene.
After the sneak attack, Lu Ya slowly stepped backwards, “Sorry, Little Black.”
“Although I don’t dislike you either, but for my lover…”
“Die.”
The crater trembled. A massive maw with tendrils burst forth with a thunderous roar, charging out and engulfing Shion and the little Black Dragon!