Chapter 416 - 297: Trust
Voidspawn Worms require an environment rich in Spiritual Energy to grow, and the Disguise Pills made from them only work if the user has Spiritual Energy in their body.
So, the appearance of a Voidspawn Worm in this world surprised Rhonda Rhodes.
The Spiritual Energy here was so scarce; he could only obtain most of what he needed from jade. He had thought it was like this everywhere...
Clearly, he was wrong.
He didn’t know where to find a place rich in Spiritual Energy yet, but as long as one existed, he could find it.
’All things considered, I’m pretty lucky,’ he thought.
Paige Summers, on the other hand, was not so fortunate.
Rhonda Rhodes looked at her sympathetically. "The Voidspawn Worm is a living ingredient. In other words, it has to live temporarily as a parasite inside a human body to take effect. It loves Spiritual Energy, so when Cultivators refine Disguise Pills, they add one of its companion herbs—a spirit plant called Binding Insect Grass. This prevents the Voidspawn Worm from absorbing the user’s Spiritual Energy and completely expels it after a certain period. But the one you took didn’t have that."
Paige Summers opened her mouth, then snapped it shut.
Rhonda Rhodes continued, "But you don’t need to be too concerned. The Spiritual Energy in your body is finite. Once the worm absorbs it all, it will die before long without a source of Spiritual Energy. So until then, don’t eat any food that contains Spiritual Energy."
After a pause, Rhonda Rhodes added, "I can sense that you have both Spiritual Energy and the energy of a so-called Superpower User... I imagine your arm’s ’superpower’ isn’t a true superpower, but rather a result of Spiritual Energy. If I’m not mistaken, you must have arrived in this world carrying a Magical Treasure..."
’Not only that,’ he thought, ’her pocket dimension probably isn’t a superpower either. It must come from that Magical Treasure, and the grain seeds naturally came from there too.’
’But there’s no need to say all that out loud.’
’She must be aware of this herself.’
Paige Summers mulled it over for a long moment before speaking. "What if I keep replenishing my Spiritual Energy?"
"It’s no use. The small amount of Spiritual Energy you get from food isn’t nearly enough to satisfy it. It’ll drain you dry sooner or later."
Paige Summers then asked, "So once it dies, will I return to normal?"
Rhonda Rhodes didn’t answer right away. He considered it for a while before saying, "The Voidspawn Worm has been in your body for too long. Even if it dies, it will likely leave eggs behind. If you want to completely eliminate the threat, you’ll have to find Binding Insect Grass!"
"I understand."
With that, Rhonda Rhodes left.
Marcus Monroe stood outside the door, but he didn’t open it to go in right away.
In truth, he felt awful.
Her hiding secrets from him... given their relationship, it really pissed him off! ’I just want to crawl inside her head and see what she’s thinking. If she can’t even trust me, who can she trust?!’
As he was seething, the door suddenly opened from the inside.
Paige Summers stood there quietly. Her expression was calm, yet tinged with weariness.
"There’s something I need to tell you."
"Don’t force yourself if you don’t want to talk about it," Marcus Monroe said as he walked in.
Paige Summers sighed. "Don’t say things you don’t mean. I had my reasons for not telling you."
Marcus Monroe stood in front of the sofa but didn’t sit. Instead, he abruptly spun around, lowered his head, and stared into her eyes. "What reason?"
Paige Summers met his gaze, her eyes clear and honest. "I was afraid, I guess..."
"Afraid?" Marcus Monroe raised an eyebrow.
He wanted to laugh, thinking she was joking.
But when he straightened up and saw her expression was still so calm it was almost detached, he suddenly realized she was telling the truth!
"Is it some kind of sorcery, a gag order? Will telling me endanger your life?!" he asked, a mix of shock and anger in his voice.
Paige Summers’s eyes went wide. She stared at him for a moment, then suddenly threw her head back and burst out laughing.
"HAHAHA! I had no idea you had such a wild imagination! Sorcery... wow, you really went there!"
Marcus Monroe, flustered and angry, flopped onto the sofa. "What’s so funny! If it’s not that, then spit it out!" Though his tone was harsh, he was secretly relieved. ’If telling me the truth would put her life in danger, I’d rather never know!’
When Paige Summers finally managed to stop laughing, she let out a long breath and sat down across from him.
After composing herself for a moment, she said, "The truth is, I’m not from this world. I mean... I think I came from a parallel dimension. There’s no apocalypse where I’m from; life is mostly peaceful. My parents died when I was young, so it was just me and my grandfather... On that day, I thought I was going to die, but when I woke up, I was here..."
Marcus Monroe grew more and more shocked as he listened.
Her description was so similar to his dream.
’Grandfather...’
’So that old man really wasn’t the head of the Summers Family, but her grandfather from another world!’
Since Paige Summers had decided to tell him everything, she held nothing back. She explained that this was the world of a book she had once read, talked about the original Paige Summers’s past life, and everything else. She described the Jade Pendant Mark and all the strange phenomena it had caused, revealing it all.
Marcus Monroe didn’t react for a long time.
Although his expression remained unchanged, showing nothing amiss, anyone who knew him well would have seen the storm raging in his eyes, a stark contrast to his calm facade.
After she had said everything, Paige Summers said candidly, "You see? The fact that it shocked you this much shows just how unbelievable my secrets are. That’s why I could never bring myself to tell you. I was afraid. Afraid you’d think I was some kind of freak, afraid of being pushed away. Afraid that you’d pretend not to care for the sake of your pride, but secretly hold it against me like a thorn in your side, making things awkward between us... I would hate that!"
She was only telling him now because she had to.
He had already noticed something was wrong with her body, with this Voidspawn Worm business.
Not telling him would just be deceiving herself, and it would only create a rift between them.
So after thinking it over, she decided to be completely honest.
If you had to describe the relationship between a man and a woman, it would be like a tall tower. The foundation is trust. Above that comes love, mutual care, and everything else.
If the foundation is shaken, then no matter how magnificent the upper floors are, the tower is doomed to collapse.
And what she wanted to do was protect it, maintain it, and allow it to be built ever higher...
Marcus Monroe rubbed his temples and looked her straight in the eye. "I admit, I was taken aback... But I’m not that cowardly, and I’m not that stupid!"
With that, he held his hand out to her.
Paige Summers hesitated for a moment before placing her slender hand in his.
Then, with one firm pull, he drew her onto his lap.
Marcus Monroe wrapped his arms tightly around her waist.
It was so slender, as if it might break with the slightest pressure.
And yet, this was the girl who had been shouldering such a monumental secret.
’It’s only natural that she was afraid.’
A sharp pang of heartache shot through him.
He couldn’t find any sweet words to say. He was just grateful that she hadn’t been crushed by the weight of it all.
"No matter what, as long as you’re still you, that’s all that matters."