Four Split Personalities

The next second, the other three felt a chill run through their bodies, and when they came to, they found that everything around them had turned into shades of black and white. The mutants in their field of view immediately quieted down, no longer advancing or howling but instead stood in place, swaying as if sleepwalkers, their ferocious expressions gradually calming down. If it weren’t for the cloudy grey-white eyes that still lacked any spark of life, one might be deceived into thinking they had regained their senses...

"Don’t think too much, they’ve just quieted down a bit,"

Guxiaole took her steps toward the trio and smiled gracefully, "And that’s only within my ’Ghost Realm’. See, those low-level undead outside of this man-made otherworld are still very fierce, so it’s best not to stray too far from me. Once you leave here... I guess the only way back would be in ’spirit’ form."

Just as she said, beyond this radius of no more than twenty meters of cold, eerie black and white domain, the mutants were completely unaffected. They were still relentlessly assaulting the third line of defense, yet these four living beings, who were closer, elicited no response from the mutants. Just seconds ago, the mutants cramming towards the front line had been attempting to surge their way towards them.

The three others besides Guxiaole were somewhat dazed. Although they had realized they were out of danger, the peace of mind that came from the mutants collectively ’spacing out’ notwithstanding, the beastman warriors and the other two human girls felt their skin crawl. They couldn’t quite put their finger on the reason, but the eerily strange environment seemed to make them feel increasingly uncomfortable. It wasn’t a physical discomfort or mental fear, but a kind of soul-deep aversion, a subtle sense that ’I don’t belong here.’

This experience was novel yet hardly pleasant.

"Um... Sister Xiao Le, what exactly did you do?"

The chestnut-haired girl moved awkwardly, casting a timid glance towards the misty, invisible boundary in the distance, forcibly suppressing the urge to run out, "I don’t like this place much."

Guxiaole chuckled lightly, revealing a set of shiny white teeth, "That’s normal, this place has temporarily become the world of the dead. As living people, you naturally recoil from this place. Of course, a ghost realm in the conventional sense wouldn’t repel you—it would just try to transform your state from ’living’ to ’dead’."

As she spoke, she overflowed with innocent sweetness, and on her shoulder had perched a lifelike paper bird so vivid it appeared real, now preening its feathers.

"Die...I, I don’t want to die!"

The other girl, a short statured one who seemed to have a hint of Flower Elf lineage, shrank her neck and muttered shakily, "At least I don’t want to die like this! At least give me a glorious sacrifice, to die in the arms of a Black Vatican Priest!"

Guxiaole rolled her eyes and pouted, "Don’t worry, you’ve got a bit of strength so you won’t be forcefully transformed by a ghost realm of this level. At worst, you’ll just feel uncomfortable and might fall sick for a few days after leaving. Well, that’s enough enlightenment for now. No more questions from now on—I’ll clear this place up a bit and then take you back."

No sooner had she finished speaking, the outspoken beastman warrior blurted out curiously, "Huh, by the way, Miss Xiao Le, are you a Necromancer? Or a Magician?"

"Didn’t I say no questions?"

Guxiaole glared at him before shaking her head, "You’re overthinking it. I don’t belong to the Medium...well, the Necromancer system that just exploded with lower quality. Although I count as a Summoner here, if you want to be strict about it... tsk tsk, big guy, have you ever heard of an Onmyoji?"

The beastman warrior blinked, "Yin and yang corpse? What’s that, I’ve never heard of it."

"If you haven’t heard of it, don’t ask right now,"

But Guxiaole had already lost interest in continuing the topic. She raised her arm gently and sent the snow-white paper bird soaring into the air, pointing cheerily at the bewildered mutants, "Dinner time~"

Whoosh!!

The paper bird, about thirty centimeters tall and looking rather silly, suddenly flapped its wings and shot towards the location of the girl, piercing through several mutants as the other three watched in horror. The monsters then collapsed noiselessly to the ground.

Three...four...

Nine...ten...

Twenty-one...twenty-two...

In less than a minute, the monsters that had been wildly ferocious now lay in an orderly pile without any sign of injury, as if they had simply ’died,’ thoroughly dead.

Only after the seventieth mutant fell did the silly paper bird return to Guxiaole’s side and leisurely perch back on her shoulder.

Perhaps it was an illusion, but the other three felt this ’bird of prey’ seemed a bit plumper than before.

"Good job, Snow II~"

Guxiaole affectionately teased the paper bird on her shoulder, gently stroked its seemingly sharp feathers, and then turned to the others, "All right, I’ve cleared a path, let’s head back and meet up with everyone!"