Chapter 40: What a Hell of a Matching Mechanism

The Lightless Prison.

Herbert strolled slowly through the darkness.

This time, for whatever reason, Svani didn't intervene again, and he wasn't in any hurry to look for it either.

He simply walked slowly through the darkness, quietly chatting with Miss Xie Shen inside his mind.

"Nie Nasha, does Fu Leimei's singing have some special power? Would ordinary people get hurt listening to it?"

Herbert wasn't that slow-witted — he was perfectly aware that Fu Leimei's agitation had something to do with that singing.

【"Probably does, right? Anyway, it doesn't work on me. I think it sounds pretty nice!"】

"Fine, that question was wasted on you. Go play."

Recalling the panicked expression on Fu Leimei's face when she first discovered him, he raised an eyebrow slightly, remembering her title — 【Howl of Death】.

Singing and death — these two surely had to be connected. Her singing had a lethal effect?

A lot of people couldn't bear it and just died horribly on the spot?

If that's the case… wow, what a death-rock siren!

How badass!

Ahem, no, wait. If that's the case, was the crime Fu Leimei committed back then really something she deliberately intended — subjectively wanting to destroy those ports?

Could there be some unspeakable secret behind it?

Herbert thought and reasoned it through, feeling that his strategy route for Fu Leimei was growing clearer by the minute.

Right now, the relationship between the two of them had dropped from the initial "slight hostility" to a state of "above neutral, not yet friendly."

A little more effort — start from the case details back then, see if he could use these "truths" to keep closing the distance…

And just as Herbert was quietly thinking, Nie Nasha suddenly went off on one for no apparent reason, and in a sickeningly sweet, ghostly tone said:

【"Oh my! Speaking of which, you two are really~ close, aren't you!"】

【"The Miss even took the initiative to invite you, wanting to sing for~ you~ a~gain~"】

"Hm?"

Herbert's right eyelid twitched as his train of thought was broken. He had no idea what kind of stunt She was suddenly pulling, but his gut told him nothing good was coming.

…What the hell?

He raised an eyebrow and asked warily, "What, you jealous of her?"

Out with it!

Did she just get triggered?

【"Pfft!"】

【"Me, jealous? Heh heh, my dear ally, what a joke~"】

Upon hearing this, Miss Xie Shen gave a disdainful little laugh, flatly denying it, declaring the whole thing to be complete nonsense.

【"I can't wait for you to get closer to them, the sooner the better — have some deep exchanges with them, gain power, and set me free sooner rather than later!"】

What would I be jealous of?

What a joke!

"Heh, you'd better not be."

Herbert curled his lip and scoffed. Over the past couple of days, he'd gradually gotten the hang of chatting with Nie Nasha.

This self-styled great Miss Xie Shen was an intermittently unhinged, anywhere-anytime dramatic, motor-mouthed, only-one-punctuation-mark-per-sentence-can-be-trusted, pure-bred drama queen.

The bad news was, dealing with her was pretty tiring — you had to be on your guard at all times.

If you weren't sharp enough, you'd really fall right into the traps woven in her words and end up like Tom — a pitiful plaything in some bad woman's hands.

But there was good news too.

He was the same type of player — no pushover either.

A stand of the same caliber, and his unhinged purity was in no way inferior to Nie Nasha's!

In the talent of being utterly speech-inducing, the two of them were roughly fifty-fifty…

It was like a potato meeting a spud meeting a hybrid of tuber and pomme de terre — perfectly matched, evenly matched, a perfect split down the middle.

Gotta say.

This goddamn thing really is one hell of a matching mechanism!

After the two of them bickered and tugged at each other for a while longer, Herbert knew he wouldn't get anything out of her, so he was the first to sound the retreat, saving it for next time.

In the end, he also said something that seemed offhand: 【"Speaking of which, I really would like to hear your singing."】

Honestly, Herbert himself hadn't thought much of it — just a casual pleasantry that fit the mood.

But unexpectedly, it seemed to pierce straight through the other's sturdy defenses, directly silencing the endlessly chatty Nie Nasha.

【"…Hear me sing?"】

After a slightly long silence, Nie Nasha gave a soft laugh, then hummed meaningfully and said:

【"If you want to hear it, it's not like I can't sing. It's just that… if I'm the one singing, quite a few people are going to die, you know."】

【"So, do you want to listen right now?"】

Hm?

Herbert's brow stirred. He had a feeling he'd just brushed up against something crucial.

But at the same time, a sense of impending total loss — that everything could blow up in his face at any moment — kept warning him: easy does it, don't mess around!

One careless move, and it might just blow up completely.

After a moment's hesitation, Herbert finally chose the conservative play. Instead of responding head-on, he changed the subject and asked:

"Uh, I didn't say sing it for anyone else. If you just sing it inside my head, it shouldn't hurt anyone, right?"

I'm the only one listening — I'm not the type to blast it on speaker!

"Well~ that might be hard to say." Miss Xie Shen's laughter was very subtle, making Herbert feel utterly uncertain in his heart.

He couldn't keep probing.

"Then let's wait until next time there's a chance!"

Herbert decisively chose to temporarily evade, but unwilling to just turtle up like this, he immediately seized the initiative and said: "We'll talk about it whenever you actively feel like singing for me!"

"I say, you Miss Xie Shen, you need to be more self-aware, proactively offer it yourself, you can't always make me be the one to ask, don't you think?"

Herbert transformed into a fighter, using the power of his little pink book to turn the tables and kidnap Miss Xie Shen.

This little comrade of ours, you need to learn to provide emotional value with some perceptiveness!

It couldn't help but make one sigh — magic, this thing, is really useful!

"Pfft, haha, you sure dream big!"

Nie Nasha was successfully amused by him, her emotions returning to normal, and she said teasingly: "Hehe, you're really funny~ choosing you was indeed the right call."

"Right? I also think I'm very funny."

Herbert secretly breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, knowing this hurdle was considered passed.

Then, after relaxing, he casually laughed and said: "Of course you could only choose me! After all, look at what you've turned all the others into."

A perfectly fine ascetic cultivator was forcibly turned into Grass Carp Bro.

Cruel.

Sigh, Miss Xie Shen, sigh.

But what Herbert didn't expect was — after Nie Nasha heard his words, she gave him a question mark.

"Hmm?"

"... Hmm?"

Herbert suddenly realized something was wrong, his footsteps halting abruptly, his eyes widening.

"That ascetic cultivator wasn't bewitched by you!?"

"What are you talking about? When did I ever bewitch anyone other than you?"

Herbert:?

"Hmm!!?"

At the same time, Valentina, who had been sulking all along, suddenly had a subtle change in expression.

Hmm?

She twitched her nose, muttering somewhat strangely:

"Strange, where is this fishy smell drifting from?"

(End of chapter)