Chapter 704: The Abducted Natsumi

Nearly two weeks have passed since the last confrontation with DEM Industries. During this time, DEM Industries has pulled in all its claws, even withdrawing the personnel who were previously secretly monitoring the area where the Mysterious Shop is located.

"Ding-a-ling—ding-a-ling—"

The doorbell rang suddenly at this moment, the shop's door was pushed open directly, and Yatogami Tohka ran in from outside.

"Asuna, I'm here again!"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Lingyun, we're bothering you again." Following behind Yatogami Tohka was Itsuka Shido, who wore a helpless expression.

Although only two weeks have passed, the impact of being kidnapped by DEM Industries on Yatogami Tohka seems to have been completely erased. However, there have been some small changes; for instance, Yatogami Tohka and Tobiichi Origami now seem even more enthusiastic about bickering with each other, and at the same time, the number of times she comes to Lingyun's Mysterious Shop seems to have increased.

Lingyun held a book and nodded at Itsuka Shido with a smile: "That's not the case at all, and Asuna likes her very much too!"

Subsequently, Lingyun's gaze turned toward Yatogami Tohka, who was chatting happily with Asuna in the kitchen while solemnly swearing that she would definitely make the most delicious soybean bread, and a golden light flashed in his eyes.

In Lingyun's eyes, Yatogami Tohka's image gradually turned purple; that was the trace of spiritual power circulating within her body. But now, this purple spiritual power was mixed with a tiny bit of black. However, this tiny bit of black was being worn away bit by bit under the influence of his spiritual Domain.

"Sure enough, it's better if things like despair don't exist!" Lingyun said in a leisurely manner.

"Papa, Papa!" Just at this moment, a small voice rang out.

"Hmm? Yui?" Lingyun raised his eyebrows slightly, then reached out, and a silver Array unfolded before him.

A small figure emerged from the Array, but Lingyun frowned slightly; the power consumed by the Array this time was a bit off, as if there was an extra bit of consumption.

"Is that little sister Yui?" Itsuka Shido looked at the girl appearing in the Array and asked with some confusion.

To tell the truth, the first time he saw Yui call Lingyun Papa, Itsuka Shido was completely dumbfounded. Later, he learned that Yui was not Lingyun's biological daughter, but had been "adopted" by Lingyun.

"Hey, alright, we're safe!" Yui, who had slowly emerged from the Array, said with a smile to the figure beside her. "If we're here, those fierce old ladies won't be able to catch up with us!"

Before long, the silver light vanished, and appearing beside Yui was a young girl who looked to be about the same age as her. The girl's attire looked a bit strange; she wore a pointed hat decorated with several uncut raw emerald stones, a pair of suspender bloomers, and socks of different lengths on her legs along with a pair of pointed shoes. However, her current state was not very good; her clothes looked quite damaged, and there were several wounds on her body.

"This is... Natsumi?" Lingyun looked at the girl beside Yui and raised his eyebrows slightly.

"Papa, Natsumi is hurt, let's treat her first!" Yui said to Lingyun.

Lingyun nodded, reached out his hand, and dots of golden light overflowed from his palm, enveloping Natsumi.

"Ya—" Natsumi, enveloped by the light, was clearly startled and looked toward Lingyun's direction in a panic. "Yui, what is this place?"

"This place is my home!" Yui said to Natsumi beside her with a grin. "In this place, no one will hurt you!"

"No matter what place it is, no one will ever think highly of me!" Natsumi shook her head, her tone full of dejection.

"Ma ma, Natsumi-chan, don't be so discouraged; the people here are all good people, and not a single person will look down on Natsumi-chan!" Yui said, holding Natsumi's hand with a smile. "Besides, in this place, there are many children the same size as Natsumi-chan, or even smaller; everyone will like you very much. And, Natsumi-chan, do you have some kind of misunderstanding about this world? Natsumi-chan's current appearance is also very cute; if you dress up properly, there will definitely be many people who like you!"

Under the shroud of the Purification Light, the wounds on Natsumi's body quickly disappeared, but she still looked around with some unease. For Natsumi, being seen in her true form was the thing she avoided most. For those who had seen her true appearance, she would mercilessly do all sorts of things to make the other party hated by others, using every scheme to carry out social assassination against them, and doing everything in her power to frame them.

But her hand was currently being held by Yui, and this little girl seemed to possess a powerful ability capable of suppressing spiritual power, leaving her unable to manifest her Angel for the time being. On the other hand, her intuition was also warning her that if she really did something out of line here, something terrifying that she dared not imagine would definitely happen.

Lingyun watched Yui, who was busy coaxing Natsumi while using the Creation Power within her own body to suppress the spiritual power inside Natsumi, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but twitch a few times. What a cute little girl Yui used to be, but now she's started kidnapping children; whose fault is this, anyway!

"Wait, wait, wait, Yui, you just said, this man is your Papa?" Suddenly, Natsumi widened her eyes and looked at Lingyun, then looked at Yui beside her.

"That's right, Yui's life was bestowed by Papa, isn't it right to call him Papa?" Yui smiled and winked at Natsumi.

"This, this..." Natsumi was a bit confused now. "By the way, Yui, that world you mentioned earlier that is all children, where exactly is it? Will the people there like me?"

"That place is called Aincrad! If Natsumi-chan is interested, I can take you to see it! Besides, there are many interesting things in that place!" Yui said with a smile. "As for Natsumi-chan, you must have confidence in yourself! For a cute girl like Natsumi-chan, as long as you dress up properly, there will definitely be many people who like you."

Lingyun only felt the corners of his mouth twitching violently; how did he feel that the current Yui was like a big bad wolf wagging its tail?

"I, can I?" Natsumi looked at Yui, her tone holding a trace of anticipation.

"This, this is actually working?"

Lingyun could only describe his state now with the words "dumbfounded"; after all, he knew what Natsumi's original personality was like. On one hand, due to the influence of some events during her initial silent manifestation, she was extremely unconfident about her original appearance. On the other hand, she had no confidence in herself at all, and her habit of associating all praise with negative things was already deeply ingrained. But looking at Natsumi like this now, was she actually moved by Yui?

"Papa, send both of us to Aincrad together!" Yui winked at Lingyun.

"O-okay." Lingyun nodded, and a space gate opened in front of the two.

"Let's go!" Yui pulled Natsumi and ran into the space gate in one breath.