Chapter 662: Inside and Outside the Door

Lu Jianuo did not delay a moment; he pushed himself up and ran to the fallen horse, carefully examining it.

After a few seconds, he sighed and called out:

"It's dead!"

This horse had been terribly unlucky—despite being over a hundred meters away, it had been struck twice by stray bullets: one in its flank, one straight through the head; it was dead beyond any doubt.

In comparison, the driver had suffered nothing at all, at most a few scrapes from rolling around.

Lu Mi glanced at Kolobo, who stood with his back to them, still alert for possible attacks from deep within the trees, then walked over to the side of the still-bloodied corpse, holding Ludwigh, who had been thrown from the carriage.

"Stop the bleeding," Lu Mi instructed Lu Jianuo.

It's already dead—why bother stopping the blood? Lu Jianuo didn't understand, but still extended his palm, glowing faintly.

Once both wounds on the dead horse had shrunk and sealed shut, Lu Mi turned his head to Ludwigh and said:

"Your turn."

Dressed in a child's formal suit, Ludwigh gave a slight nod.

He extended his right palm, fingers curled in the air toward the dead horse, then slowly lifted it.

The blood-stained corpse of the horse suddenly rose upright, and the overturned carriage shifted slightly as well.

Seeing this, Caume gave an almost imperceptible nod:

Is this child of the "Death" Pathway, or the "Prisoner" Pathway?

Yet there was no chill, no corpse-like aura…

When Lu Jianuo righted the carriage, the horse's corpse, now existing as an undead entity, continued pulling the five of them toward Tizamo Town.

Near noon, Lu Mi saw their destination.

It was a small town partially encircled by rubber trees, soapberry trees, and laurel trees, with several plantations scattered along a dirt road; the air carried the scent of various spices and mouthwatering roasted meat.

Tizamo's buildings were all distinctive: apart from the church of the "Eternal Sun" Church, which clearly bore Northern Continent style, the rest were all Westbailang-style houses, raised on wooden piles and stone pillars, with a deliberately open lower level.

This was because many areas of Westbailang had humid air, abundant rainfall, and frequent flooding or standing water.

Watching the people busy with their own affairs in the plantations and the town, Lu Mi stepped down from the four-wheeled, four-seat carriage.

…………

Trier, Memorial District, Aoluosaijie No. 9, Apartment 702.

Francia lay in her rocking chair, gently swaying as she recalled yesterday's events.

Jianna had gone straight out into the street after waking up to buy meat, vegetables, fruit, and bread, leaving Francia wondering if she'd dreamed the whole thing, if it was all an illusion.

"Why did she suddenly volunteer to help me digest the Elixir? Compared to most Trierites, she's definitely conservative…"

"And yet, so direct, so blunt—it nearly killed my desire. Isn't it normal to build up some ambiguity first, to cultivate the mood? Then, even if she didn't initiate, I wouldn't be able to resist…" Francia grew more puzzled, convinced this wasn't something Jianna would do.

But after recalling Jianna's past experiences and behavior, she realized there was nothing wrong:

This was exactly the kind of thing Jianna would do!

"Jianna has a quality—or rather, a personality—of being willing to throw everything away…"

"When her flamboyant singer friend was raped by Ma Ge and went insane, confined to an asylum, Jianna truly risked everything to assassinate Ma Ge in revenge, even though she was financially desperate—she borrowed the 'Assassin' Elixir from me and firmly became an Adept…"

At Yu Ge's banquet, facing a councilman protected by both official Adepts and a demonic god's blessing, she still discarded everything, ignoring her own fate, and killed on the spot the bastard who had brought disaster to her family in the Market District…

"In her heart, I must still be more important than that flamboyant ex-girlfriend. So suddenly throwing everything away, coming straight to me, and offering to help me digest the Elixir—that's exactly the kind of thing she'd do…"

"And besides, this wasn't impulsive. She's asked me several times before how my 'Pleasure' Elixir digestion was going, whether I'd found a pleasure partner, even recommended Lu Mi…"

"She noticed I'd never found a new pleasure partner, that I was only pretending to be carefree, and after yesterday's shock of Lu Mi's advancement to Rank 5, she felt compelled to help her most important friend—and so she threw everything away…"

"But that still doesn't seem enough. Even with all that, Jianna wouldn't have made the decision to sacrifice her own body… Ah, sacrifice…"

"Could it be… could she have long suspected I secretly liked her, that I avoided new pleasure partners because of her, and believed she was the reason I couldn't digest the 'Pleasure' Elixir—so she finally threw everything away?"

"Yes! That must be it. Only then would she truly throw everything away."

"Aaah! Why can't I find even a trace of love in this?"

Francia groaned inwardly.

If she'd known it would come to this, she thought, she might as well have mustered the courage, swallowed her pride, and gone to Lu Mi for help—then at least she wouldn't be so torn and pained now.

Of course, her refusal to seek new pleasure partners was largely because she cared about Jianna's opinion.

She had become Gardener Martin's lover and shared his lovers before meeting Jianna—she couldn't undo it, so she'd continued.

After Gardener Martin died, she claimed she wanted to let Bruns experience true pleasure, to join that witch's women's pleasure party—but it was mostly talk, a fleeting curiosity. If Bruns had actually agreed, Francia would have hesitated, likely found an excuse to decline.

She didn't want Jianna to think of her as promiscuous in Lu Mi's eyes.

In short, her answer to the question "Is there truly no one in this world you care about?" had changed, and so she'd stalled in seeking new pleasure partners.

"Jianna has no real experience—she doesn't know how to slowly build intimacy in bed, so she reverted to the blunt seduction of her 'little tart' persona—but she didn't want to deceive my feelings or make me fall deeper, hence yesterday's behavior."

"Thankfully, she still had enough sense not to find a lover to make me give up, forcing me to truly seek new pleasure partners—yes, she probably thought that would cause lasting pain, not prolonged pleasure, and would hinder my Elixir digestion…" After understanding the whole situation, Francia felt even more depressed.

……

Inside the staircase leading to Apartment 702.

Jianna stood frozen, holding a bag of bread and carrying a basket of beef, vegetables, and fruit, reluctant to go back.

Recalling yesterday's events, her face flushed hot; she didn't know how to face Francia.

When she was a flamboyant singer, she'd seen others in love and thought it was just that—stimulating, perhaps, but something she could endure.

Who knew that after actually experiencing it, she discovered pleasure could drown you.

Huh… Jianna took several deep breaths, forcing herself to calm down.

Her current worry was how to interact with Francia going forward:

"Should I pretend nothing happened, treat Francia as usual, or be cheerful, bring up yesterday's events directly, and show it's no big deal—so Francia won't feel awkward?"

"But wouldn't that make Francia sad? She's digesting the 'Pleasure' Elixir right now…"

"And one encounter won't be enough—I must maintain a lover's relationship with her for a while…"

"Tonight, should I seduce her again as I did yesterday, or wait for her to initiate?"

"Damn, this is so annoying!"

Jianna found this more troubling than assassinating powerful figures—whether it was seeking revenge on Ma Ge or killing Yu Ge. Artua, she'd only thought, "If I die, so be it," and didn't care about other concerns. But now, this situation wouldn't kill her, yet the lingering troubles would drag on endlessly.

Thinking of all the tiny details still to handle, and having to actively maintain a physical relationship with Francia, Jianna grew so frustrated she almost wished she could just go assassinate Minister Moran Avini of the Ministry of Industry right now.

After several more deep breaths and adjusting her emotions, Jianna analyzed from the perspective of an actress what kind of behavior would make Francia more willing to accept further pleasure.

She'd already taken the first step, already thrown everything away—she wouldn't give up now. She intended to sustain their relationship until Francia finished digesting the "Pleasure" Elixir.

Once she'd figured out what to do next, Jianna curled her lips into a faint smile.

Holding the bread, carrying the groceries, she climbed the stairs with light steps and returned to Apartment 702.

She had just opened the door when Francia jumped up reflexively from her rocking chair, forcing a smile, nervously saying:

"You're back?"

Jianna chuckled at Francia's reaction, and inwardly sighed:

If only, if only you didn't want to become my lover…

Jianna walked calmly to the dining table, placed her things down, then glared at Francia:

"Come help me!"

"Yes, yes!" Francia hurried over.

Seeing Jianna neither stiff nor returning to her usual demeanor, Francia felt inexplicably better—and even began looking forward to nightfall.

…………

Sizzling.

A drop of juice from the beef fell onto the fire, rising as smoke, mingling with the spices, making Ludwigh swallow saliva several times in a row.

But the boy had patience; he didn't rush, waiting for the beef to reach its perfect state.

Lu Mi turned his body slightly, gazing at a three-story building across from the restaurant.

The yellow-brown house was the rebuilt former residence of "Siso" Tewanako.

(End of Chapter)