Chapter 655: Toying with Me?

Her head turned directly from straight ahead to straight behind, a full 180 degrees.

The motion was as fast as twisting a bottle cap; with a click it turned, without any transition.

On that round face, the smile still lingered, but the eyes were already narrowed, like two slits, the light shining through them cold and bright.

Her body hadn't turned yet.

Her head was already set backward on her neck, staring at the direction of the curtain for several seconds.

Then her body began to move, like a tightly twisted rope slowly loosening.

Her whole figure was like a statue being slowly rotated.

The smile on that face never changed during the process, the corners of her mouth upturned, eyes narrowed, looking happy, but that happiness was not the same as a normal person's joy at something good; it was more like a cat's delight upon seeing a mouse cornered against a wall.

"Oh?"

When that voice floated out of her mouth, it carried an indefinable mix of excitement and curiosity.

She tilted her head, then stepped toward the curtain, her feet on broken planks creaking, while black‑red currents swirled around her, like a flock of invisible snakes winding about her.

The curtain was huge, hanging from the ceiling down to the floor, completely covering whatever lay behind.

The curtain should have been deep red, but now it had faded almost completely, turning into a dull hue that was neither quite gray nor brown.

Gudazi walked up to the curtain and stopped.

She lifted her hand, her fingertip still some distance from the curtain, then halted.

That finger twitched.

A small clump of dark‑red light ignited at her fingertip, leapt off and landed on the curtain.

Flame danced across the curtain, tearing it, turning the faded fabric into pieces of black ash.

After a few breaths, the curtain was gone.

Only a few unburned scraps hung from the ceiling hooks, still smoking.

The scrap wavered twice in the air, then fell from the hook, hitting the floor and shattering into black fragments.

What lay behind the curtain finally became visible.

The blue little bird stood there.

Robin stood at the opposite end of the room, about a dozen steps away from Gudazi.

Blue hair draped from her shoulders, glowing faintly in the dark‑red aura, and her lake‑green eyes fixed on the small figure standing amid ash and flame, exhaling black vapor.

Her lips were pressed into a line, her chin slightly lifted.

There was no fear on her face.

At least it didn't look like there was.

There was indeed a hint of nervousness in those lake‑green eyes, but she kept it buried deep.

Gudazi raised an eyebrow.

The gesture was small, but paired with her round, chibi‑style figure, it looked both funny and creepy.

"Yo!"

The voice trailed off, pitched up a bit, like a greeting or a confirmation.

Gudazi's gaze shifted from Robin's face, glancing behind her, then to the left, then to the right, then upward.

Then her gaze returned, landing on Robin.

"Where's that little loli?"

The tone carried an indefinable mix of disappointment and curiosity.

She tilted her head, those eyes fixed on Robin's face.

"Could it be—?"

She didn't finish the sentence.

She deliberately stretched the word "say," making Robin's brows furrow.

A smile that sent chills down one's spine appeared on her face.

Robin looked at that face, her lips moved, then opened, and a voice floated out.

"Who on earth are you?"

"Why do you look so much like classmate Fujimura?"

Robin's voice remained calm.

She paused, as if gathering words, or giving herself a moment to consider how to speak.

"And,"

her voice paused, "why are you chasing us?"

Gudazi stood there, listening as Robin finished the three questions.

She tilted her head the other way, her smile now even broader than before.

Obviously, she was in a good mood.

"You may think I'm Fujimura."

As if stating something obvious.

Both hands were in her pockets—if the two holes in her tattered clothes counted as pockets.

"Of course,"

Her voice suddenly lowered, with a deliberately forced eeriness, "It also has another name."

"This—World—'s—Evil—"

Those four words sprang from her mouth one by one, each laced with the same contrived gloom.

Gudazi's eyes widened, fixed on Robin, waiting to see her reaction—the startled, pupils constricted, pallid response.

Robin blinked.

Robin's face showed none of the reaction Gudazi had expected—no constricted pupils, no paling, no fear, not even confusion.

"Er."

When that sound floated out of Robin's mouth, it carried a tone of bewilderment.

She tilted her head slightly, her lake-green eyes fixed on the twisted smile still waiting for her reaction.

"Who?"

Gudazi's smile froze, as if someone had hit pause.

Her mouth remained open, her whole face frozen there, like a paused video frame.

She stared at Robin, and Robin stared at her.

The two of them locked eyes for several seconds.

"You don't know?"

Her voice carried disbelief, like someone who had just told a joke they thought hilarious, only to find the audience not laughing.

Robin thought for a moment, then shook her head seriously.

"I don't know."

Her expression remained earnest, her lake-green eyes fixed on Gudazi, containing no mockery, no provocation, only pure sincerity.

"But once you introduced it, I would know."

Gudazi froze.

In an instant, the expression on her face became a mix one could not tell whether it was confusion, shock, or something else.

Her mind raced, but after turning it over several times, she realized she could not work out a logic that would let her understand that sentence.

"If you introduce it, I'll know."

Logically, that statement seems not wrong.

Indeed, a person can only know something after someone else introduces it.

But from another angle, the statement seems somehow off.

This World's Evil—this thing—everyone in the Xingyue World knows it, right?

How could this person not know it?

Never mind that she doesn't know—what does she mean by saying, "If you introduce it, I'll know"?

Is she saying, "You tell me and then I'll know, which is normal"?

Is she messing with me?

Gudazi's mind turned over and over, finally arriving at an answer she felt was right.