Chapter 110: Another Unidentified Call

Crack, crack, crack, crack.

A certain sound emerged from the darkness.

Rustle, rustle, rustle, rustle.

The faint and chaotic noises never ceased.

Senior Cuique stood in an empty hall, looking around with some confusion.

Why was she here?

She felt her memory was somewhat blurred, her consciousness not very clear, as if she were in the Illusory Realm, yet the sensation was so real.

Stepping forward, the crisp sound of her heels striking the ground spread in all directions; invisible sound waves turned into echoes, scattering those chaotic noises.

After a brief silence, it was replaced by a sound of whispering.

Senior Cuique could not tell the source of the sounds; among them seemed to be men and women, old and young, but the only common point was that they were all laughing.

The chuckles mixed with the echoes of footsteps, layer upon layer, repeating endlessly; the sounds gradually became sharp, finally forming some kind of grating noise.

The noise kept spiraling upward, constantly assaulting her ears, as if it were about to pierce Senior Cuique's eardrums, causing severe headaches.

This real pain made Senior Cuique frown; she subconsciously activated a spell pattern, wanting to block out this sound. However, as she began to move, that grating sound vanished.

The echoes, the voices, the laughter all dissipated completely, as if they had never existed at all. Everything returned to the very beginning, leaving only the chaotic and faint noises in the darkness.

What exactly was that sound?

Senior Cuique did not quite understand.

And just as she wanted to move forward to investigate, light suddenly appeared in her line of sight.

Blinding light shot from behind her, casting her shadow onto the ground before her, stretched very long, very long. She could see her swaying skirt hem within the shadow, she could see the bonnet reflected as a rough circle; without a doubt, that complete human figure was herself.

That shadow belonging to her stood motionless in place, just like the person herself.

What kind of light was this?

Straining her sluggish consciousness to think, she felt her mind like a lump of sticky paste, completely unable to turn. Doubt arose in her heart; Senior Cuique intended to turn back, but discovered the shadow in her line of sight had suddenly changed. Reading books la

Abruptly, in the blink of an eye, as if several frames had been pulled from a video, another black shadow overlapping with hers appeared. After that, that black shadow flickered, swayed, but with the flickering, gradually unfolded itself.

Something had appeared behind her.

Senior Cuique realized this.

But, she could not turn around.

Every hair on her body stood up in that instant; her limbs became incredibly cold and stiff; her innermost intuition kept telling her not to turn around.

Just at this moment, that shadow covering Senior Cuique's figure finally settled into shape amidst the flickering, appearing before Senior Cuique's eyes with incredible clarity.

It was an insect with spread wings.

Or, to be more precise based on its form, it was a moth.

At this moment, Senior Cuique finally realized that those originally faint and chaotic noises were already right by her ears.

She raised her hand, looking at her own arm—

—【Attention all passengers, attention all passengers, this journey has ended here; you have arrived at your destination, Fang Ting City.】

"... Hah, ha!"

Taking a deep breath, Lin Yun suddenly opened his eyes and straightened up from his seat.

Subconsciously panting for a moment, he looked around with some confusion, seeing only that he was in an unfamiliar ship cabin.

The noisy environment around him and the broadcast voice from above gradually made him recall where he was—he was on a landship, on the way back from Baian City to Fang Ting City.

"I fell asleep?"

Murmuring to himself, he turned his head to look at the porthole beside him, seeing his face faintly reflected in the reflective window. Only at this moment did he discover that his forehead was covered in cold sweat.

It seemed he had just had a nightmare.

Only now could Lin Yun confirm this.

Pulling out his phone from his pocket and checking the time, he discovered that the message section actually showed two missed calls. One was from Lin Xiaolu, and the other was from an unfamiliar number.

Unlocking the screen and tapping into the message interface, he saw the message Lin Xiaolu had left for him, which read: 【What time are you getting home tonight?】

This girl actually knows to care about this?

Lin Yun couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.

To be sure, he was not currently returning to Fang Ting City for the holiday as Senior Cuique, but as Lin Yun. Although the father-daughter relationship between him and Lin Xiaolu had eased considerably now, they still often lacked common topics; for his daughter to send such a message in advance already counted as sufficiently attentive.

Feeling somewhat gratified by this, his expression softened slightly, and he typed in the message bar: 【Returning in one hour.】

This was also something decided long ago, after all, today was already the Full Moon Festival.

Several days ago, Lin Xiaolu had sent messages asking her father and Senior Cuique, wanting to know if the two would return on the day of the festival.

She did not know that her two messages were ultimately placed before the same person; the difference in tone between them even made Lin Yun smile bitterly.

However, in the end, he did not agree to the holiday request using Senior Cuique's identity. Of the two messages sent by Lin Xiaolu, he only gave an affirmative reply to one: the one sent to Lin Yun.

As for Senior Cuique's side, he made an excuse that the investigation was not yet over and work was busy, simply rejecting it.

The reason for making such a choice actually had a cause; the most important point was that Lin Yun still hoped to spend the Full Moon Festival with his daughter in the capacity of a father. Even though he also knew Lin Xiaolu might prefer to be with Senior Cuique.

For the people of the Donghua Region, the Full Moon Festival is a holiday with special symbolic meaning; this day places greater emphasis on the reunion of blood relatives.

Perhaps communicating with his daughter using Senior Cuique's identity would be more relaxed on ordinary days, but the Full Moon Festival is different. This is a holiday that should belong to the family; regardless of both parties' wishes, he should spend it properly with his daughter in the capacity of a father. This is not merely his personal emotional selfishness, but also an account of their relationship.

Another reason was that, for this rare holiday, he did not want to spend energy on the brain-burning identity game anymore.

The investigation work in Baian City had consumed a huge amount of his energy; the aftereffects of over-exerting magic power during the battle with the Spider had also not yet subsided, causing him to occasionally feel waves of migraine.

The current Lin Yun only wanted to go home and properly enjoy a peaceful holiday, seeking a moment of mental tranquility for himself.

After replying to the message from Lin Xiaolu, he walked out of the landship along with other passengers, officially stepping onto the soil of Fang Ting City. During the process, he also checked the call log, flipping through the missed calls, and called back that unfamiliar phone number.

Unfortunately, no one answered.

Just as he thought the other party had dialed the wrong number, or it was simply a boring prank, and was about to put down his phone, he suddenly sensed the vibration of an incoming call.

He focused his gaze and saw it was indeed that unfamiliar phone number.

He answered the call, pressed the phone to his ear, and asked with some confusion: "Hello, who is this?"

The "hiss" coming from the other end of the line made his breath catch.

He remembered that voice. And the other party's next sentence seemed to be about to emerge because of it.

"... Be careful."

As that voice sounded, Lin Yun felt as if he had returned to five months ago, to the days when he first learned Lin Xiaolu had become a magical girl.

It was the same unknown number, the same unclear voice. And that same "Be careful."

Although the surroundings were filled with a noisy, clamoring crowd, he felt as if he had instantly fallen into an ice cave, as if all the liveliness had nothing more to do with him.

"... Is it you?" Realizing the purpose of this call, he immediately said in a deep voice: "What's the situation? Who exactly are you? And what is going to happen?"

"Hiss."

"Hello?"

"Be careful of tonight's... hiss."

The latter half of the sentence from the other end of the line was drowned out by signal static, leaving Lin Yun completely unable to hear clearly, so he immediately pressed: "What did you say?"

"Be careful, tonight's..."

【Beep, beep, beep】

However, this time, the other party didn't even finish that sentence; the "hiss" of static turned once again into the busy tone of a hung-up call. Leaving Lin Yun standing in the crowd, staring at the phone in his hand with its screen now dark, his face as still as water.

(End of this chapter)