Era of Magic and Martial Arts

Chapter 702: Chapter 632: Why Is the Mask Here? (2)

"Stay here, I have a date, can’t miss it."

The last syllable hadn’t yet faded away, and before Zuo Bai could react, [Mask]’s body had bizarrely collapsed like melting black wax, turning into a shadow darker than night itself.

Zuo Bai’s electronic eye zoomed continuously, staring unblinkingly at the shadow at his feet as it flowed into the grass, seemingly tracing the same path he had taken.

Zuo Bai stood frozen, and after a few seconds, he suddenly took a long, deep breath!

"A date?"

"Is it a date with Feng Yuhuai?"

A hint of doubt swirled in his mind, and Zuo Bai felt a strange sentiment:

"[Mask] actually didn’t give me any trouble, is he really this magnanimous?"

Indeed, compared to the vengeful thoughts he harbored before, and Feng Yuhuai’s mad-dog-like reaction upon seeing him, the "forgiveness" [Mask] was showing now left him feeling ashamed.

Zuo Bai blinked, withdrew his gaze, and couldn’t help but feel secretly pleased:

"Could it be that because ’Old Huang’ absorbed my bad luck, my fortunes have started changing for the better?"

Thinking this, Zuo Bai found the pain below not as unbearable.

If sacrificing a pair of eggs could summon an "Old Huang" to absorb his bad luck, then it didn’t seem like much of a loss, huh.

After all, as a scientist, who needs testicles!

Without testicles, one could devote oneself to science with a clear mind!

...

The pitch-black shadow flowed silently like liquid over the grass, entering the villa, and winding its way up the walls to the second floor.

On the wall hung a gigantic oil painting, depicting a bust of a commissioner, with heavy, realistic brushstrokes, and a sombre, intense color palette.

The commissioner in the painting wore magnificent attire, his expression stern, eyes gazing forward.

The ceiling wall lamp cast light, creating a chiaroscuro effect on the canvas, adding an extra layer of gloom to the already serious portrait.

Suddenly!

The light and shadow on the painting’s surface distorted in a bizarre instant.

It wasn’t a flicker of light, but an indescribable change in the light and shadow texture embedded within the canvas itself.

The profile of the commissioner’s face seemed to be caressed by an invisible ripple, the lines becoming blurred, but the previously rigid, hollow eyes turned eerily vivid amidst this blur.

As if the face in the painting had quietly come to life, or as if another transparent mask had been placed over the face in the painting.

The oil paint on the face’s surface rippled subtly under the light, and deep within the overlapping, now "lively," eye sockets, there seemed to emerge a mass of tiny black text, like swarming insects, appearing suddenly and disappearing just as quickly.

[Emergency Event Alert:

Your Experience Pack 1 and your Experience Pack 2 are undergoing a fated reunion.

Location Coordinates: Jade Garden

System Calculation Indicates: 100% Probability of Triggering "Filial Daughter" Bond Effect.

Ps: How could a family’s midnight snack be complete without you?

——You are being watched!!!]

In the room, time seemed to freeze into a scarlet hue.

Tens of thousands of hair-thin red threads wove into a web in the void, not lifeless, but pulsing with a strange rhythm, resembling a living spider’s web.

At the center of the web, Feng Ju was entangled like a moth caught in a net;

At the end of the web, Feng Yuhuai was still spinning more threads like a spider.

For some reason, ever since finding out Feng Ju was resurrected, Feng Yuhuai felt a voice in her head constantly enticing her.

Whenever she encountered Feng Ju, her emotions became extremely unstable, and that voice in her head would come alive, taking over her.

It was the voice of the... cloth doll that had fused into her body.

She always thought that after merging with the cloth doll, she was the one in control, but now she realized that it seemed to be quite the opposite, hehe.

Especially when facing Feng Ju, she couldn’t even distinguish whether she was herself or the cloth doll.

The "cloth doll" tilted its head, peering at Feng Ju through the black mask, speaking with a childlike yet eerie voice.

But because it was transmitted through a synthesizer, Feng Ju didn’t notice that the soul within the person before him had secretly become the cloth doll.

"Dear father, why won’t you speak, do you really not want to see me this much?"

Feng Ju’s lips moved futilely, the language area of his brain seemingly malfunctioning, unable to formulate sentences.

Love? Hate? Gratitude? Fear? Forgiveness? Revenge?...

A myriad of intensely conflicting emotions clashed wildly in his mind.

In the chaos of his heart at this moment, even the most frenzied writer would find it impossible to depict even a fraction of it with words.

Standing before him was the person he once loved the most, and also the monster he recently hated the most.

The monster that killed him, yet pulled him back from the brink of death.

So, should he love again now, or should he continue to hate, or perhaps...

A glimmer of clarity flashed through Feng Ju’s chaotic thoughts; perhaps he could treat this monster as he treated the unfilial son, Feng Mu.

Before Feng Ju could clear his thoughts, the "cloth doll’s" voice eerily arose:

"It seems, Father truly doesn’t want to forgive me."

A chilling sob emerged from beneath the black mask:

"But clearly it was Father who kept deceiving me, so why put all the blame on me?"

The "forgiveness" Feng Ju had been preparing froze instantly in his throat, and upon hearing this, he was completely stunned.

Wait a minute—

What does it mean... he has always been deceiving her?

What did he deceive about?

Feng Ju, he asked himself, had poured all his effort and unreserved love towards her.

He might be hypocritical and cunning towards others, perhaps harsh and ruthless towards his son, but towards the monster before him, when had he ever deceived even a bit? He wished he could open his heart for her to see.

Feng Ju’s heart flared with anger, his mouth with missing teeth gaped, the leaking "hissing" sound became rapid, almost bursting into a curse.

But he forcibly restrained himself!

His face was full of pain and anger, his voice trembled, like an old father suffering an unjust grievance:

"What nonsense are you talking about?"

His voice was exceptionally hoarse because of the red line strangling his throat,

"When did I ever deceive you? In my entire life... I’ve never deceived you even once! Not even once!"

The "cloth doll" controlled Feng Yuhuai, she slowly adjusted her head, the coils in her eye sockets becoming more vivid:

"You still want to lie to me, but I can already smell it, the blood seeping from you has the scent of a monster just like me, hehe—"

As if to prove she wasn’t lying, the "cloth doll" elegantly hooked a little finger.

"Whoosh—!"

A red line wrapped around Feng Ju’s neck suddenly tightened, leaving a thin mark on his skin, allowing a string of crimson blood droplets to ooze out.

Feng Ju’s heart trembled violently, watching helplessly as the blood-stained red line retracted back into Feng Yuhuai’s body like a snake slithering back to its nest, finally condensing into a drop of viscous black blood on her pale fingertip.

The "cloth doll" lifted a slender finger, slightly lifting the mask.

The blood-stained fingertip swiped over pale lips, dragging a piercing black mark along the lip line, then the mask was reclosed.

From beneath the black mask came a soft smacking sound akin to savoring red wine:

"Tsk... Tsk tsk..."

Even though only a drop of blood was taken, Feng Ju felt as if a strand of his soul was pulled away by the silk line, as if he had again visited the gates of death.

In his mind, the memory of that night, when he was killed by the "cloth doll" with her own hands, surged back uncontrollably.

The icy fingers of the "cloth doll," penetrating his back without hindrance, clutching his heart;

The coldness of life gushing madly out from ruptured blood vessels with the scorching blood;

And the myriad of red lines squirming inside his body along his daughter’s arm;

That was the taste of death, the pain of being betrayed by his closest kin to the core of his soul.

Hate returned, all of it returned completely!

Feng Ju was nearly grinding his molars to pieces, yet not a trace of anger appeared on his face, as if time had turned back to the moments when he loved her the most.

His face showed the former kindness, his voice softened as if coaxing her as a child:

"You misunderstood, I indeed became a monster, but I never lied to you, not before, not now, nor ever in the future."

He paused and added:

"I, ah, only became a monster after being killed, by a stroke of luck, and came back to life."

The "cloth doll" seemed touched by Feng Ju’s love, a trace of hesitation came through the synthetic voice:

"Really, you’re not lying to me?"

Success! Feng Ju coldly laughed in his heart, yet the kindness on his face was like a welded mask, even more "sincere" and moving.

He wanted to nod vigorously, to reinforce his persuasion, but his neck was still wrapped with red lines, so he could only grin.

The more he hated in his heart, the kinder his face appeared:

"Truly, I have never lied to Yuhuai, because, in this world, I am forever the one who loves you the most."