Chapter 517 - 458: Brianna: Without Her Knowing

Chapter 517: Chapter 458: Brianna: Without Her Knowing

"Han Liuyue... where is the hospital you mentioned?"

"She’s hurt, so be gentle. Do you need my help?"

"When she wakes up, can you have her call Jin Xueli’s phone? She knows."

"Han Liuyue, when can I go to the hospital to see her?"

It was as if a hole had opened up in Brianna.

From that hole, countless words and questions poured out, filling the desolate, cold night.

’If I just stick to the facts, the swaying, distorted world will gradually stabilize and get back on track, right?’

Brianna kept talking, kept asking, but not a single thought, not a single word, dared to venture in the darkest, most terrifying direction.

Every sentence she spoke was subconscious, half-fawning and half-pleading, hoping Han Liuyue would guess her meaning and voluntarily tell her the one thing she wanted to hear.

But Han Liuyue never seemed to understand.

She just silently picked Morando up, hoisted her onto her back, and nodded at Brianna. "I’m leaving."

Morando was tall. Draped over Han Liuyue’s back, she was like a motionless cape on a windless day, her feet dragging on the ground.

Even though she was wearing long pants, Brianna was still worried the cuffs would ride up and the road would scrape her skin.

"Can I follow you for a little while, Han Liuyue?" she called out from behind.

The words had barely left her mouth when she realized how much she was pleading.

Han Liuyue finally stopped and looked back at her with difficulty, hesitating.

Brianna rested her arms on the ground, waiting fearfully for her to speak.

"I’ll be able to open a Path back soon," Han Liuyue said. "It’s not far from here. There’s no point in you following. You’d be more useful holding back any residents in the area for me."

Brianna opened her mouth, but countless screams, pleas, and fears all died in her throat.

"Okay... okay. I will, I will," Brianna said, fawning again. "I’ll go back to the human world, too. When that time comes, if you need anything, I’ll..."

Han Liuyue had already turned away.

She watched as Han Liuyue, half-carrying and half-supporting Morando, slowly receded from view. The feet dragging on the ground would occasionally be knocked by the pavement, flopping limply like a fishtail trailing through water.

It was as if all of Morando’s life had settled into that fishtail.

「Half an hour had passed since they left.」

Brianna did her best to stop every snooping resident nearby. The more she fought, the more at ease she felt.

’This proves Morando can still be saved. If she were dead, she wouldn’t attract so many residents, right?’

Covered in wounds, she crawled an unknown distance. Every time she encountered a resident, she would launch a surprise attack, catching them off guard. When Brianna felt she had done enough and stopped to catch her breath, she looked back and couldn’t even see the building where Jin Xueli’s room was.

’Morando’s surgery probably isn’t done yet. She might not be out of the emergency room,’ she thought.

’There’s still a little time... I have to wait a little longer.’

Brianna wiped her face a few times, but it only got wetter. ’Worrying is normal. Crying is normal. As long as I don’t keep crying, it’s fine. I have important things to do.’

’Where did Jin Xueli put the radio?’

She no longer planned to kill Jin Xueli and wear her skin.

Even if Morando’s last—even if what Morando said just now was a lie to trick her, she was willing to be fooled.

But just because she wouldn’t kill Jin Xueli didn’t mean she would give up on the Illusion in her hands.

The radio was either in the Nest or the human world. Since she was already in the Nest, she would start her search here. After all, Jin Xueli probably wouldn’t want to use her Path to go in and out repeatedly. It was more likely she had just moved the radio to another location within the Nest.

As Brianna thought, she slowly dragged her mangled body toward the Nest’s night university.

She only knew of two places Jin Xueli would go: her base and the night university.

And there was a way to tell if Jin Xueli had gone to the night university, one with a fairly high chance of success.

Luckily, it was night, exactly when the night university was in session. As long as a student had a map of the night university, they could find it in a place with similar terrain—even if its last location was half a Nest away from its next one.

The building with the "Rose Ridge Community College" sign, where Jin Xueli had last entered the night university, stood silently in the dark.

Brianna let out a long sigh of relief.

’See? My luck tonight really isn’t bad.’

’Jin Xueli only has one kind of map. To get back to the night university, she’d most likely have to come back to the same old place. If the night university appeared here, it means a student looked for it here.’

’Putting the two together, it’s highly likely Jin Xueli has been here, right?’

’If she hid the radio in the university, that would be a perfect hiding spot. Not only would most people never think of it, but you couldn’t search deep inside without enrolling. And besides Jin Xueli, who would just randomly enroll in school?’

"You again."

This time, as soon as Brianna crawled into the lobby, the face on the same floor tile spoke. "Why are you back?"

"I’m looking for someone," Brianna said.

"Who is it this time?"

"...The same person."

The face on the floor let out a long sigh. "Are you trapped in some kind of loop? Living out Groundhog Day?"

Brianna seriously considered the possibility. ’If I were trapped in today, never to see tomorrow... that might not be so bad.’

"Just tell me if she’s been here and when. Or do I have to go find the administrative assistant again?"

The single eye in the tile’s pattern continued to gaze at the ceiling. As long as it didn’t speak, it was just a tile with a pattern that vaguely resembled a face.

"Do you plan on taking someone away this time, too?" the tile-face asked. "If you’re going to drag another student out of class—"

"No, I’m not planning on taking anyone."

After she spoke, a sob suddenly caught in her throat. Once she decided to give up on wearing Jin Xueli’s skin, it felt like a restraint had been removed, but it also felt like a betrayal of herself. "I just want to know if she’s been here."

"Then I can tell you," the tile-face said. "I’ve seen everyone who comes and goes. What does the person you’re looking for look like?"

Brianna carefully described Jin Xueli’s appearance and figure.

She had seen Jin Xueli three or four hours ago. If Jin Xueli had come to the night university, it should have been around that same time—

"Oh, I know her," the tile-face said easily. "Her class is almost over. If you wait by the entrance, she should be out soon."

’...What?’

"Class is over?" Brianna didn’t even know where to begin asking questions. "How long is a class?"

"An hour," said the tile-face. "Most major-specific courses are about that long."

’Wait, does Jin Xueli really have some way to teleport?’

’I hit her, she teleported away, but... then she just happily came to class as if nothing had happened?’

’What kind of history is she trying to bury that makes her so eager to study?’

"It’s quite strange, now that you mention it..." the tile-face suddenly remarked, almost as if it had heard Brianna’s thoughts. "I’ve never seen a student who loves class this much."

"What do you mean?"

"I’ve seen her six times today," the tile-face said. "In this one night, she’s come to class six times."

Brianna suspected she had underestimated Jin Xueli, but she couldn’t say in what way.

"A couple of times, I thought she was still in class," the tile-face said hesitantly, "but then she’d come in through the main entrance again. Maybe her classes are shorter?"

Brianna listened in a daze, remembering how the second time she’d seen Jin Xueli tonight, the girl seemed to have no memory of being attacked by her earlier.

She should have been in class at the university, yet at the same time, she was walking into the school from the main entrance.

...It was as if there was another Jin Xueli.

No, according to the tile-face, it seemed there wasn’t just *one* other—it had seen Jin Xueli six times.

’Could there be more than six Jin Xuelis?’

’Is that even possible?’

’I didn’t go through all this trouble just to tussle with a flock of Vultures, did I?’

"Hey, here comes someone," the tile-face called out suddenly. "Is that who you’re looking for?"

When Brianna lifted her head, her gaze fell upon the figure in the hallway—Jin Xueli, gradually illuminated by the light.

Her face was a little pale, her red lips chapped. She looked like a lost sheep or a snowflake that hadn’t yet melted as the weather warmed, a faint layer of bewilderment always underlying her expression.

But when she saw Brianna, Jin Xueli’s eyes lit up. Before she could speak, a smile touched her lips. "It’s you!"

’Just as I thought, she doesn’t remember—no, that’s not right.’

Brianna was almost certain now.

’It’s not that Jin Xueli forgot being attacked by me twice tonight; it’s that this Jin Xueli in front of me has never been attacked by me at all, right?’

’This Jin Xueli here doesn’t know that another Jin Xueli called Morando into the Nest, and doesn’t know that I tried to kill her for it—’

She bit the inside of her cheek hard, thinking over and over, ’It’s fine. Han Liuyue took her to the hospital. The Kai Family Hunters led by Chaisi are capable. It’s fine.’

"What are you doing here?"

Jin Xueli’s look of pleasant surprise both confused Brianna and pricked her like thorns. ’I only saved her once. Is she really this happy to see me?’

"Are you here to see me?" As Jin Xueli spoke, she took half a step back and looked Brianna over, her delight fading. "You... you’re hurt?"

Brianna had little strength left and didn’t want to waste time beating around the bush.

"How many of you are there?" she asked in a low voice. "What are you... what are all of you... doing?"

Jin Xueli was startled. "You’ve met the others?"

’She hadn’t guessed wrong.’

"Yes," Brianna answered with a single word.

Jin Xueli stared at her blankly. After a few seconds, seeing that Brianna had no intention of elaborating, she finally hesitated and said, "The others... they didn’t get into a conflict with you, did they? Please don’t blame me. This is a self-rescue plan we came up with. I don’t know why so many ’Jin Xuelis’ suddenly appeared tonight... but one of the Jin Xuelis said this is our best chance to break the curse..."

’What curse?’

This Jin Xueli seemed more willing to talk than the last one.

Brianna was about to ask more when the phone in the small pouch around her neck buzzed with a long vibration. ’It must be Morando. She’s awake and calling me. Even though the notification looks different, it has to be Morando.’

She immediately pulled out Jin Xueli’s phone.

! MAJOR NEST NEWS ALERT !

The widely known Nest Dominance Game now welcomes its second team of contestants—currently the only active team.

Contestant Damian cordially invites

Contestant Kai Luonan to join.

Items collected: one tongue (icon), one black cube (icon), ???