Chapter 856

Hearing Franca's answer, Jenna bit her lip and said:

"Did you make that choice just now partly because of this factor?"

"Maybe." Franca said with a bitter smile, "I feel that if I don't do this, that thorn will always remain in my heart, and I will definitely drift further and further away from you two. Once the mission is completed, once there is no external force putting us together, perhaps we will just scatter like that. But I, I don't want that...

"I went out with a dagger just now, truly wanting to cut Lu Mian once to vent the anger in my heart, but walking in the shadows on the street, after being blown by the cold wind, I sobered up quite a bit, and then I thought, love is so annoying; if there wasn't this thing called love, the three of us could still be happily together like before.

"With this thought, I suddenly felt that if I exclude love, exclude the possessiveness and jealousy caused by love, perhaps, roughly, it's possible...

"'Judgment' has always told us that the apocalypse is near, that it will arrive in a few years or a dozen years, and we must make corresponding preparations, both psychologically and in terms of strength. Although we can't see the signs of the apocalypse at present, it's inevitable that we will forget this matter at ordinary times, keeping ourselves in a better state of mind so as not to go crazy from being too tense. But just in Trier alone, we have personally experienced two major disasters, the 'Shadow Tree' related matters and the hostel plan; no matter how we try to escape or refuse to face them, we cannot ignore them.

"Under such circumstances, any of us could leave, say goodbye, or die at any time; why care about so much? Although that choice is very strange and I myself can't quite accept it, why not give it a try?

"After trying, perhaps our future will be better, more intimate, and we will value each other more, or perhaps it will be worse, still drifting apart, becoming the most familiar strangers or objects of mutual hatred. But how would we know which result it is without trying? It can't get much worse than it already is.

"Of course, human emotions cannot be controlled; even if our future is better, the hidden love and the possessiveness and jealousy that come from love cannot be completely excluded. Pain will coexist with pleasure for a long time; perhaps this is the base color of a 'Witch'.

"But no matter what, I still like that sentence:

"'Life is short, why not give it a try?'"

Jenna listened to Franca's statement very attentively, and said with gentle eyes:

"That's why I have a strong sense of urgency and make some selfish choices."

She then laughed:

"I heard Lu Mian tease you with 'Life is short, why not give it a try' before; was it because you did something strange while reciting this sentence?"

Franca gave an embarrassed laugh:

"I was actually quite hesitant and conflicted about whether to drink the 'Witch' potion at the time, and then someone said this sentence to me."

Jenna realized suddenly, not mocking Franca for it, but asking curiously:

"Were you also encouraged by this sentence when you were with Gardner Martin later?"

"I guess... I didn't know you guys then, didn't have anyone I particularly valued." Franca was even more embarrassed.

Seeing this, Jenna laughed in a low voice:

"Then before, did you ever think about trying it with Lu Mian?"

"This..." Franca was almost asked to the point of wanting to run away from home, "Oh my, you innocent girl, don't talk about such inappropriate topics!"

Jenna deliberately used profanity:

"Fuck! When I was singing in bars and dance halls, the vulgar jokes I heard and the lewd scenes I saw were much more intense than these topics; not only men and women, but even men and men."

Seeing that the sadness and heaviness of the atmosphere had eased quite a bit, Jenna stood up and said:

"You look very exhausted; this is what happens after intense emotional fluctuations. I'll go back first; you get some good rest."

"Mm." Franca stood up as well.

She opened her mouth, seemingly wanting to ask something, but in the end, didn't speak.

Jenna was quite sensitive to details in this regard and said with a smile:

"If there's anything you want to ask, just ask; you've already made such a decision, what else is there that's hard to ask?"

Franca hesitated for a moment, looked into Jenna's eyes, and said:

"If, if I had told you I was a man at the beginning, and after getting along for a period of time, truly pursued you, would you, possibly have liked me?"

Jenna thought seriously and said:

"I can't answer such a hypothetical question; I can only say perhaps."

She looked back into Franca's eyes and said:

"I told you before, during that period, you were a ray of light shining into my life; to me, you were both my best friend and the older sister who always protected me, despite having different parents. After my mother passed away, I even projected a part of my feelings for her onto you. Perhaps that's why I sometimes thought I shouldn't give you fantasies and that it was better to end it early."

Speaking of this, Jenna smiled:

"In my mind, if I were to rank the three people I value most now, the first is Julian, the second is you, and the third is Lu Mian. Romantic love might fade or dim one day, but the relationship between us won't."

Franca felt relieved and said with a smile:

"Your line delivery is really good."

"Of course, I learned it very seriously at the time!" Jenna walked toward the door step by step.

After walking a few steps, she turned her body, looked at Franca, hesitated, and said:

"The joining you mentioned, I can't accept it for now; mm, only referring to my part."

Speaking of this, Jenna laughed:

"But in the future, who knows?"

Franca revealed a smile as well:

"That was just a way of speaking."

Jenna turned back, walked to the door, and pulled open the room door.

She gripped the brass-colored doorknob, paused again, turned her body, looked at Franca standing in the center of the living room, and asked in a low voice:

"If, if one day, you found a way to go home, and Lu Mian and I both wanted you to stay, would you stay?"

Franca stood with her back to the crimson moonlight, her face seemingly hidden in the deep darkness.

She was silent for a long while before speaking slowly:

"I don't know..."

This voice sounded as if it were squeezed out from her heart, light and without any strength.

…………

Two days later, underground Trier, inside a quarry hollow.

Franca, Jenna, and Amandine, who had just arrived from Matani State in the Southern Continent, all stood inside the 'Wall of Spirituality', watching Lu Mian set up the altar.

And Anthony, who had never been discovered by Amandine, was responsible for the security of the outer area.

Lu Mian finished the preparations unhurriedly, lit the candles, dripped essential oil, took two steps back, and stood by Franca's side.

He didn't feel worried because there was no demigod protecting the scene; firstly, Amandine was there, and secondly, when he mailed that bottle of 'Samaritan Woman's Spring' water to Lady 'Magician', he had mentioned this matter.

Seeing the candlelight flicker, Franca suddenly became nervous, while Amandine was blank-faced; she had no idea what help she was supposed to provide or what help she could provide.

After Franca nodded to indicate she was ready, Lu Mian chanted in Ancient Hermes:

"I!"

Then, he switched to Hermes:

"I summon in my name:

"The spirit wandering in falsehood, the combination of numerous shadows, the contracted creature of Lu Mian Lee..."

This was a segment similar to summoning a messenger that Amandine was quite familiar with, so she didn't watch too intently, curious about the description in the incantation while observing the eye interaction between Lady Franca, the lady whose name she had just learned, and Lu Mian, wanting to find ambiguous factors within it.

To her disappointment, Franca, Jenna, and Lu Mian's attention was currently focused on the ritual.

Not long after, that blurry shadow wearing fish-scale armor walked out from the candlelight; the pitch-black scales on its body had been stained with pure gold in many places, appearing solemn and sacred.

The transparent faces on the scales were much clearer than before, becoming increasingly twisted and ferocious like evil ghosts.

They screamed silently, flaunting hatred and malice.

Amandine was startled violently.

This wasn't because she was frightened by the image of the armor shadow; this level of terror couldn't frighten her, having experienced the 'Dream Festival', summoned Bayon Fair, and been to the catacombs.

The reason she had an overreaction was because the armor shadow, along with those evil ghost-like faces on the scales, were all looking at her at the same time!

This caused her breathing to nearly stop, her body completely wrapped in icy coldness.

The armor shadow made a sound, still using that strange language.

Only Franca at the scene could barely understand; the other party said:

"Under the gate of Haoli..."

It really recognizes the gift power on Amandine... After Franca muttered a sentence, she found that the malice flaunted by the armor shadow had receded quite a bit, and it seemed they could communicate relatively peacefully.

Lu Mian also noticed this change and quickly had Franca place the gold worth 100,000 Vergold on the altar, while he himself said in Hermes:

"I offer a sacrifice; please complete a simple task for me and answer two questions."

The armor shadow transmitted the intention of "can do", and the transparent faces on the surface of its scales all looked greedily at the gold.

Lu Mian then placed the data Franca had handed him onto the altar.

This wasn't the one Mr. 'Star' had given Franca, nor was it the original data; the order of the former had been completely scrambled, making it difficult to interpret through similar Q&A, while the latter could potentially bring contamination to the armor shadow, causing the ritual to develop in an unpredictable, dangerous direction.

Therefore, after Franca indicated her intention, Mr. 'Star' provided a new set of data through Lady 'Judgment'.

The new data extracted several complete sentences from the original data, and the hundreds of characters contained in these sentences were also the ones most frequently used in other parts of the data.

"The task is to ask you to translate this data." Franca listened to Lu Mian's request with anticipation and considerable nervousness.

She wasn't sure if the armor shadow would agree to such a transaction.

In the sound of the wind, the two pages of data flew up and floated in front of the armor shadow.

After a few seconds, the armor shadow spoke another passage in a language Lu Mian and the others couldn't understand.

Franca's ears pricked up:

"Isolated yin does not grow, solitary yang does not arise; yin contains yang, yang contains yin; the union of yin and yang gives rise to all things; this is the Heavenly Dao..."

Just this? Franca's lips moved slightly.

Although she hadn't truly put it into practice yet, she somewhat suspected that the armor shadow was implying her, Jenna, and Lu Mian.

PS: Two updates today have been delivered; asking for base monthly votes at the beginning of the month~

(End of chapter)