Chapter 580: Getting to Know Her?

Time passes second by second.

In the hallway outside, the footsteps of Monkeys occasionally echo, but they never linger.

This room seems like a forgotten corner, temporarily still safe.

San Yue Qi rummaged through every drawer of the desk, every shelf of the bookcase, and every corner of the room that might hide something.

She found a pile of incomprehensible charts, a pile of unrecognizable instrument parts, a pile of strange banana products—but she could not find any information on "how to undo Fusion".

Lin also had no progress over there.

Those documents recorded only experimental procedures and data, detailing every stage of Fusion—from the initial First Stage, to the later Replace Common Words With Banana, and finally the complete loss of language ability, leaving only instinct.

She read with her heart pounding, because those descriptions increasingly resembled her current state.

"San Yue Jie banana." she suddenly said, "I think… I've already entered the Second Stage banana."

San Yue Qi turned her head and looked at her.

"What does it mean?"

Lin pointed at a passage in the notebook.

"First Stage is First Stage, I already have banana. Second Stage is Replace Common Words With Banana—listen to my earlier speech banana, in the sentence 'Replace Common Words With Banana' I have replaced everything with Jiaojiao."

San Yue Qi was stunned.

She carefully recalled what Lin had just said and found it indeed so.

When Lin spoke, more and more words were replaced by the character "banana", and without careful distinction one could not tell what she was saying.

"Lin…"

Lin closed the notebook, leaned against the wall, and a wry smile appeared on her face.

"Should I be grateful that I can still recognize these characters banana? If I can't even recognize the characters, then it's truly over banana…"

San Yue Qi walked to her side and grasped her hand.

"Lin, listen to me. No matter what happens, I will never give up on you."

Lin lifted her head and looked at her.

"Really banana?"

"Really."

San Yue Qi's gaze was earnest, earnest enough that Lin barely dared to look directly at her.

Lin turned her face away and muttered softly:

"Then I'll try to hold on banana…"

Perspective shift.

Ilya sat on a street‑side bench, curled up into a ball.

The streetlamp's dim yellow light poured down from above, casting a blurry shadow on the ground.

The night wind blew, lifting a few fallen leaves that spun at her feet.

In the distance, occasional Jiaojiao cries could be heard, but they were growing farther away.

She sat like that, arms wrapped around her knees, chin resting on them, eyes fixed straight ahead at some nonexistent point.

Her mind was a tangled mess.

Robin Jiejie's expression, sitting there motionless, watching herself being held by that purple‑haired woman without any reaction.

That image was etched on her heart like a knife; it resurfaced the moment she closed her eyes.

And that woman…

The purple‑haired woman, grinning wickedly, who held her in her arms and fondled and squeezed her.

Ilya's face flushed again, half from anger, half from embarrassment.

(What exactly did she do to Robin Jiejie? Why did Robin Jiejie become like that?)

(And that hand… when it touched me, that strange feeling…)

She lowered her head and looked at the hand that Ailixiya had held.

The back of the hand was spotless, with no trace at all.

But that tingling, electric‑like sensation seemed to linger on the skin, impossible to shake off.

Ilya inhaled deeply, shook her head vigorously, and flung those chaotic thoughts away.

(No, Ilya, you must pull yourself together. Robin Jiejie is still waiting for you to rescue her.)

(But… how to rescue? That woman is so strong, those Monkeys are so many, I alone…)

She was thinking that when she suddenly heard a strange sound from afar.

"Tap. Tap. Tap."

The sound was rhythmic, like a heavy object striking the ground, and it grew nearer.

Ilya looked up blankly, gazing toward the direction of the sound.

Then her pupils slowly dilated.

A horse.

A pink horse.

The horse was massive, its muscles bulging, its four legs as thick as pillars.

Its coat was an outrageously vivid pink, glaring under the streetlamp's dim yellow light.

It walked steadily toward here, each step producing a heavy "tap tap" sound on the ground.

On its back sat a gray‑haired girl.

The girl wore practical attire for movement, the coat's collar upright, her hem fluttering gently in the night wind.

Her shoulder‑length gray hair was a bit disheveled, a few strands clinging to her forehead.

She wore a dark Top Hat on her head, its brim pressed low, covering most of her face and leaving only a sharply defined chin exposed.

The most eye‑catching thing was the gun hanging at her waist.

The gun glowed with a golden sheen, and faint Flame could be seen flickering on its barrel.

It dangled casually beside the saddle, exuding an unmistakable sense of oppression.

Ilya stared blankly at the scene, her mind a void.

A horse? A Pink Horse? Is this a film shoot?

The horse walked up to her and halted.

A massive shadow enveloped Ilya.

She lifted her head, looking at the gray‑haired girl on the horse's back, and realized the girl was also looking at her—though the hat concealed the eyes, she could feel the gaze.

The two stared at each other for a few seconds.

Then Ilya suddenly noticed another person on the horse's back.

The person lay on the horse, secured by a Rein, limp and motionless.

Orange short hair fell over the face, but the familiar school uniform made Ilya instantly recognize her.

"Li Xiang Jiejie?!"

Ilya sprang to her feet, trying to get a closer look.

But the gray‑haired girl gave a gentle tug on the Rein, and the Pink Horse stepped back a pace, keeping distance from Ilya.

"Do you know her?"

The gray‑haired girl spoke.

Her voice was flat, showing no emotion.

Yet within that flat tone was an undeniable… presence.

Ilya nodded, her eyes still fixed on the unconscious Fujimura.

"She's my friend! What happened to her? Why is she bound to the horse? What did you do to her?!"

The gray‑haired girl was silent for a second.

"Saved her," she said, "from the Monkeys."

Ilya froze for a moment.

"Monkeys?"

The gray‑haired girl nodded, offering no further explanation.

She looked at Ilya, those eyes hidden behind the hat brim seeming to assess something.

"I have a question for you."

Ilya watched her warily.

"What is it?"

"Have you ever seen a purple‑haired woman?" the gray‑haired girl said, "the kind that looks wicked. She likes to laugh, and her speech carries a strange tone."

Ilya's pupils dilated instantly!

"You—You also know that woman?!"