章節 6: The Cleaner
There are three major misconceptions in life: the vibrations of a cell phone, if a girl likes me, and whether I could retaliate.
Kubei realised he was trapped deep in the third misconception.
Based on the trust he had towards the System’s loop reading function, he focused his attention onto the spell, and intended to use the binding spell to retaliate against Michelle. The System did not disappoint, as it repeated the spell without complaints.
The one that disappointed him was himself.
Regardless of how many times the System repeated the spell, how hard Kubei focused, he could not learn the spell.
By focusing his attention, Kubei returned to the space within his consciousness. Everything was constant within it, with the blue triangular symbol shining in the darkness beyond. The voice of the System repeating the spell echoed in the space as well, just like the waterball spell, reverberating repetitively in the space.
Nothing happened.
Kubei felt as if he threw a pebble into a lake, wishing for ripples. Instead, the lake was already frozen, and the effort he gave was for naught.
"This metaphor is not very suitable," the System interrupted as it stopped the loop, "A lack of ripples does not necessarily equate to a frozen lake. Your situation is better illustrated with the lake that has totally dried out."
Kubei did not want to play word games with the System, but after some pondering, he felt that the System’s words had hidden meanings.
"What do you mean?"
Triumphantly, the System pretended to clear its throat, and spoke slowly , "The surface of the lake is the space in your consciousness and the spell is the pebble. The act of throwing a pebble and breaking the frozen surface is like unlocking the dimension of your consciousness. However, unlocking your consciousness can only be used once, it is impossible to use the same method to learn a second spell."
"How could I learn it then?"
"When it comes to this…." The System halted for a few seconds, and said unabashedly, "To whom should I forward your question to?"
"…..."
He should not have had expectations towards this fellow.
Kubei shook his head.
Although the System blabbered like an old shaman, Kubei must admit that its inference towards the unlocking of the consciousness was quite reasonable. It would be unrealistic of him to learn the spell using the same method.
If he could not use this method, what could he do then?
The cons of self-teaching were eminent now. He became a mage without any theoretical basics. Grandfather Mao once said, "Theory guides practice." Presently, he did not have any guidance in the road to becoming a mage, and it was as if he was walking blind. He could only learn from Grandfather Deng, and explore his way out of the problem.
Kubei’s frustration was insurmountable. He wished he could run to Michelle and tell her in her face, "Sister, teach me magic, pretty please?"
"You cannot learn this spell anymore. What a shame."
The System said happily, as it no longer needed to put the spell on loop.
"If I cannot master the spell, I will be killed by Michelle, and you will die with me," Kubei reminded the System, and it became silent.
Kubei stopped paying attention to the System after the looping plan failed. Instead, he focused on the space of his consciousness.
The unlocked space of his consciousness was the source of his magical powers. If there was anything that could change Kubei’s predicament, anything that could answer his questions on magic, it must be within this darkness.
It was useless to stare into the space, Kubei thought, so he walked towards the triangular symbol.
He reached out and aimed at the symbol, then uttered the Waterball Spell.
It was as if the symbol became an actual triangular instrument. It was hit by an invisible force, vibrated, and emitted a "ding" sound. The clear voice was like a moist wave, spreading itself throughout the space within seconds.
A peculiar feeling rose within him. Kubei shuddered after the sound, and a numbing sensation spread throughout his body. When he snapped back into reality, a ball of water floated above his palm.
"Wow, how amazing! You can now make a water ball!" the monotonous, mechanical voice appeared and said cornily, "Quick, tell me, how do you plan to defend justice with a water ball and defeat the evil Michelle?"
Kubei ignored the System’s taunt. At the moment when the water ball was formed, the space became clearer in his eyes, as if he was the blind that could finally see, he was amazed and ecstatic when he experienced a sensory event that he never had before.
Although it was just for a second, he still managed to observe quite a few things.
There was an enchanting force filling this space.
Usually, this force could only float around like air. However, when he chanted the spell, the triangular symbol emitted a wave, and this wave influenced the dormant forces to assemble like tadpoles hunting for food.
Thus, the water ball in his hand was formed.
Use the symbol as a medium to attract the scattered forces and utilise them! Kubei felt that he found the nature of magic.
However, he quickly became let down again, because his newfound knowledge did not help him in any way. It even destroyed the last hope he had.
He could feel that this energy had its attributes.
The moist energy that was filled with life, was ‘water’.
When he chanted the Waterball Spell again, he could feel a repelling force from it.
It seemed obvious now that the energy that the Waterball Spell required was not ‘water’.
Kubei tried to feel the energy from other attributes, but unfortunately, the force within the space of his consciousness happened to be ‘water’, and only ‘water’. Once he left the space of his conscious to sense the energy from the real world, he could only feel water as well.
Just like how you could only pick up your child from a kindergarten after school. There was no use to try and collect another child as they would not follow you regardless of how loud you called for them.
Furthermore, Kubei’s ‘child’ was a mischievous one. No matter how hard Kubei attempted, ‘water’ only slightly responded to him within a limited radius. He still needed to work on the craft much longer in order to freely command ‘water’.
"I never knew that I, a wise being for all my life, will be attached to a watered down, half-wit like you," the System moaned in anguish after it found out about this, "Tell me, why could you only control this ‘water’? What use could this possibly be? It wouldn’t be enough to wash your feet!"
Kubei could only begrudgingly agree with the System.
This Waterball Spell really had no fucking use whatsoever!
The plan on using magic to retaliate failed before it was even brought into action. The imagined plot point hunting back his hunter lasted for only ten minutes. The identity change imagination came back to slap Kubei in the face so fast, he felt the collective hate from this world he travelled into.
He was at wits ends now!
Kubei opened his eyes, left the space of his consciousness to return to the real world.
The evening breeze was still blowing, the tip of the trees making soft, rustling noises under the wind. Michelle crouched at the branches at the side, unmoved like a statue. Her hood covered her face. Kubei could not make out her present facial expression.
In hindsight, Kubei never did see Michelle’s face since the start. She was like the most evil and mysterious witch in a movie, with wicked ideas boiling within her, as if she was always planning another more villainous plan.
Kubei stared at her, wanting to find some flaws from the eerie cloak.
"Oh, you finally decided to exploit your body?" the System piped as it emerged with impeccable timing, "You finally talked yourself through, I’m relieved. Here, look at this Weibo article that was shared over a million times, <READ THIS OR BE LEFT OUT! 100 ROMANTIC WORDS FROM ITALY>, you will get her as easy as ABC…."
Kubei ignored it.
He prepared to find a way to escape from Michelle, but it would not be the idiotic plan suggested by the System. Even if he did plan to use his physique to charm his way out of this, there was no guarantee that Michelle would even look at him seriously. From the first minute he came into this universe, it was painfully clear that he did not have the blessings of a main character in a harem, where females would come running into his arms.
Instead, he planned to talk with Michelle.
Another way of phrasing it would be him trying to negotiate with Michelle. Just like when he just arrived here, he wanted to use whatever chips he still had in his grasp to convince Michelle into a deal. Then, he could survive.
It sounded absurd, but he was willing to take whatever chances under these circumstances. Although this was a bad idea, but could it be worse than the predicament he was in?
He would not give up this easily.
Thus, he adjusted his stature and said, "Lady Michelle, you are in grave danger."
The first fundamental point in negotiation is to boost your stance, make an empty show of strength, and to raise alarm with threatening speech. This had the same reasoning as fortune tellers going about telling people that their ophryon looked black, and that they would experience bloody tragedies in the future. In short, it had to do with just creating fear.
Of course, he knew that this sentence alone was not enough to scare Michelle. That was why he had a backup. Below are the conversations Kubei constructed in his mind:
"Lady Michelle, you are in grave danger."
Michelle scoffed, "What rubbish are you saying?"
Kubei chuckled without warmth, "You thought you could delay the progress of the troops behind us by sacrificing Annie. However, unfortunately, the family knew your end goal will be the treasure vault. They are there waiting for you to fall right into their ambush!"
Shocked, the blood drained from Michelle’s face, "Impossible! How could they know?"
Kubei arched his face towards the sky and laughed, "Hahaha, I left secret signals on the way, and left messages to the troops. You never expected that, did you? Hahaha! Give up and admit defeat, Michelle, your wits are miles away from mine!"
Michelle’s lost her cool and turned pale, as if she was struck by lightning, "Oh no, what should I do? Am I going to die soon? You must know the way to save me, please tell me, quick, I’ll do whatever you want."
Then, Kubei could make a deal with Michelle for her to release him, and in exchange, he would try and give her the treasure once he arrived safely to the family. Michelle would cry in appreciation, and escort him back to the family. Whether he would want to help Michelle would be another matter entirely, it would be unnecessary to fulfil the empty promise once he was safe and sound!
With that, he could escape safely, and Michelle would lose her hostage and her treasure.
Perfect!
Kubei caressed his chin as he admired himself.
However, just like how every sane person would think, the reality would rarely follow the wishes of a man.
Michelle ignored him.
Kubei did not lose his cool. He knew that it would not be as smooth as he imagined, but despite the windy road, the future would remain bright. There was no way this small mishap could stop him.
Thus, he continued, "I am not bluffing you, you are indeed in imminent danger. Michelle, do you not believe me?"
Finally, Michelle answered him, "You are right, I believe in you."
Kubei was speechless. Something must have gone wrong somewhere.
Michelle was as calm as a eunuch in a whorehouse, "You left secret signals on your way here, and thus left a message to the troops behind us. It is unfortunate to say that they would already know that my final goal is the treasury, thus they will be there in ambush, waiting for me to fall."
"…."
Kubei was lost.
The System spoke in his mind, its voice full of hatred, "I hate these people the most! They never follow the script, and they even stole lines from others. How do they expect the people acting alongside them to respond?"
Although this metaphor would be considered bad, but Kubei still felt like digging a hole and hiding underneath it.
Even though he could not see Michelle’s face under the cape, he could still feel the ridicule and overwhelming intelligence. Originally, he was grateful that the signals went unnoticed by Michelle, but….
There was no turning back now. He said it, and now he could only grit his teeth and continued, "Uh, although you saw my signal, but you might not have cleared all of them."
Michelle said, "No, I did not clean them, all of them are still there."
Hearing this, Kubei was shocked.
If there was no clean up, that meant the troops from the Lithur family would see them. Thus, Kubei would have the leverage he wanted in the negotiation. This was exactly the same as what he planned!
Why then? Why did Michelle trip herself over with the stones she laid down?
Kubei was curious now, "Why? You knew that this would only harm you, right?"
A cold chuckle arose from the cloak.
However, just when Kubei thought she would explain, everything changed. Michelle grabbed a dagger out of nowhere and pushed it towards Kubei’s throat.
"Keep quiet if you still value your life!"
The blade lied closely on Kubei’s skin, the chill sending shivers down his spine.
What the fuck was this woman doing?
If the dagger was closer by even a millimeter, there would be a bloodbath within this forest.
Kubei felt that he broke into a cold sweat in these few seconds. Although he was startled and death’s cloak was near him, he forced himself to calm down.
No matter how crazy Michelle was, she would still need him. Thus, she would never kill him off without reason. Since she told him to be quiet, something must have happened. He should stay silent and observe for now….
Suddenly, at the forest far away, there was a commotion.
Kubei instinctively withheld his breath.
A troop of strict-looking knights walked towards them slowly from the dark.
The troop consisted of approximately more than ten people, and although they were all riding horses, their formation was as neat as geometrical shapes from a mathematical equation. Every single one of them was covered with armor, their breastplate engraved with intricate designs. They looked magnificent, but also dignified.
The most amazing part was that even though the forest was dark, the armor was emitting a muted gold light. Under the holy light, these knights look like gods that descended from the heavens, compelling people to worship them.
They marched with the momentum of a thousand troops with only around 10 people.
Kubei felt Michelle’s obvious tension when these knights appeared.
He could not help but be interested.
Who were these knights? Did their appearance have anything to do with Michelle? Why was Michelle so nervous? Unless…. they were the troops from the Lithur family?
Of course, Kubei was not stupid enough to call for help. The dagger was still under his throat, and calling for help would only hasten his death.
The knights did not notice Kubei and Michelle, who were hiding on a tree. They looked like they were just passing by, and as their march was quite fast, they disappeared from Kubei’s view moments later. Once the knights left the vicinity, Kubei felt that Michelle very obviously became relaxed.
After a few more minutes, Michelle kept her dagger away.
Kubei touched his throat. The chill of the steel still lingered, and he was shaken from the encounter.
What exactly was Michelle trying to do? Who were the knights? Also…. the question from before, why did Michelle not erase the signals he left behind?
He had too many questions.
Before he managed to ask, Michelle spoke, "Sir Lithur, please forgive the disrespect I’ve shown. I was only acting for our safety. Please relax, and I could answer your questions now."
Michelle wiped the dagger with her sleeve and kept it safely. Then, she gazed at the direction the knight left and continued, "About your signals, it was unfortunate to say that I have no need to clean them up."
Kubei was surprised and baffled, "What do you mean?"
Michelle was momentarily silent, and as if she remembered something, she sarcastically said, "You really thought there would be troops wanting to save you? Shame, you and Annie were cheated. There were no troops from the Lithur family. The only ones that were after us were the troop that just left."
No troops?
Kubei was stunned.
How could it be? Did the family give up on him? It was Michelle who said again and again that there were troops from the Lithur family. Even Annie believed in her without doubt! Was everything a lie?
Fuck this shit!
This woman planned to cheat everyone from the start. She did not even spare her accomplices! Kubei, a teleportation newbie, would of course be cheated. He wasted a whole night pondering on escape plans on these ‘troops’ that never existed! Uttering ‘fuck’ would not be sufficient to express his feelings.
Without the troops, he would be left with no choice but death!
"Wait, who are they?"
Kubei asked, as he forced himself to remain level-headed despite being in shock and fear for his life. He thought and pointed towards the direction where the knights left. The knights had left quite an impression on him.
His instincts told him that they would be his last hope.
However, Michelle’s tone of answer was strange, "They…. They are the ‘Cleaners’ from the church."
Kubei asked again, "Cleaners? What do they clean?"
Michelle heard him and was silent. She then laughed shortly without reason, her voice scratchy like rusted blades rubbing against each other. She stared at the direction where the knights came, and spoke with disdain and self-deprecation.
This was her answer, "Today, they are here to cleanse Annie."
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