Chapter 194: Is That Stupid?

Chapter 194: Is That Stupid?

A strange chill inexplicably flashed through Lily’s heart as she calmly looked at Zheng Yichen. She shook her head lightly, her eyes gleaming as she stared toward the town. Though there was some confusion in her gaze, there was even more of a restless eagerness. The training cheat device Zheng Yichen had hastily made for her had let her experience a feeling of power skyrocketing in just four short days.

The basket that had felt unbearably heavy for her to lift before had, over these four days, become something she could drag along with ease. It wasn’t quite at the point where she could lift it with both hands yet, but she wasn’t far off. Maybe in eight or ten more days, she could do it! In the past, she would have needed to train with incredible hardship to achieve this!

She had the determination and will to train hard, but she never had the chance. Those who once controlled her would never have given her such an opportunity. Even now, facing them would still feel very… pressured for her. But this black dragon beside her, the one being chased, seemed quite capable. He always managed to make strange things.

The equipment on her body was made by Zheng Yichen right in front of her. According to him, it was just a shoddy product, but it was enough. As long as her goal was achieved… anything else? Anything else had nothing to do with her! This training cheat device on her originally had several levels.

Each level had a stronger effect than the last, naturally bringing greater improvement. However, the very next day, Zheng Yichen removed that function. The reason was that on the first day after using it, after tasting the benefits, she had presumptuously adjusted the thing to the highest level on the second day, nearly killing herself!

Zheng Yichen, who was observing the direction of the town, was still pondering how to temper this little girl’s temperament. It wasn’t just because of her current reaction, but also her near-fatal, self-inflicted act of stupidity from two days ago. Zheng Yichen bore a little responsibility for that too. The things he made were mostly styled after Earth’s designs, and this cheat device was no exception. He felt something was missing if he didn’t add settings like levels or gears.

That’s where things went wrong. The consequences weren’t severe. At the time, Lily lost consciousness and knew nothing, but Zheng Yichen saw it clearly. After she faced mortal danger, an aura of brutality and madness—the kind only a beast on the brink of death would have—emerged. That power, which seemed almost fused with every cell of her body, indistinct from them, began to shift from being hidden to becoming visible. Zheng Yichen acted too quickly. The very next moment she was in trouble, he used magic to stabilize her condition.

That slightly manifesting power then faded back into concealment. Afterwards, Lily’s physical strength showed no extra increase from this anomaly. If any change occurred, it was probably that the fusion between that power and her body suddenly increased a notch. By today, they were fused to the point where the traces were almost completely gone. It was estimated that in at most two more days, they would become completely indistinguishable.

Considering the circumstances, Zheng Yichen did not explain this anomaly to her directly, planning to clarify it later after figuring things out. However, one thing could be confirmed: the side effect brought by that deeply integrated power in her body was likely the death-rage berserk state. Back then, the little girl’s teeth had even sharpened.

“I want to go back.” Seeing Zheng Yichen lost in thought, the little girl jumped out of the basket and poked his heel with her finger.

“Don’t even think about it. You want to go back now? Be careful of being sent to the stake!” Zheng Yichen rolled his eyes. A missing town member for several days, especially a little girl, returning now—what would that look like? Not to mention, the Sanctuary Church had probably already discovered the abnormality among the town’s residents. The members stationed there were the best evidence.

Their handling of the situation left Zheng Yichen slightly puzzled. According to typical church tropes in stories, when encountering a situation like this—residents turned into ‘living dead’ by an evil force—shouldn’t the option be to purge the whole village?

Why did it look from a distance like they were getting along quite well? After observing for nearly two hours, Zheng Yichen even saw some brave young girls from the town go to give flowers to the handsome guys from the Sanctuary Church!

This was the wrong script!

“What are you slandering them for?” The little girl shot Zheng Yichen a glare.

“Oh ho? Getting excited now that we’re close to home?” Zheng Yichen didn’t mind the little girl’s attitude, just looked at her with some surprise. “The Sanctuary Church doesn’t burn people?”

“I heard from some Adventurers that only people from the Dark Church do such cruel things,” the little girl said softly, a strange flicker in her eyes. Zheng Yichen could tell she was even more impulsive now. Earlier, she had wanted to rush into the town to do something. Now, she seemed eager to make contact with the Sanctuary Church members stationed near the town as soon as possible.

“What you want to do is deal with those human traffickers, right?” Zheng Yichen pinched his chin, then gently tapped her head with a finger to calm her down.

“The Sanctuary Church people won’t ignore this. If I just make contact with them… please let me go.” Lily tightly hugged Zheng Yichen’s finger, which he hadn’t retracted yet. “I promise I’ll come back quickly!”

“…Sigh, it’s not that I don’t want to,” Zheng Yichen said helplessly, spreading his claws. “Originally, I came back planning to help you cut off this desire. But now, do you know why the Sanctuary Church is chasing me?”

“You must have done something really bad!” Lily stared at Zheng Yichen with some resentment. His attitude made him shrug. Anyone whose deepest obsession was interfered with or couldn’t be resolved would feel this way toward the interferer.

Even back when Zheng Yichen and Loris weren’t close, if he had gotten a chance to return to Earth then—a chance that wouldn’t affect anyone else—but Loris ruined it, he would have felt the same!

It was human nature. Deep bonds and trust weren’t built from a few simple days of contact. If they were, then some method of influencing people’s hearts must have been used!

“Awoo~ That’s right, I am a big Evil Dragon!” Zheng Yichen made a funny face at Lily, rolling his eyes hard, feeling entirely MMP inside. The Sanctuary Church in this world had a really darn good reputation, damn it!

“Anyway, now that you’re associated with me, if you go over there now, you’ll be detained immediately and taken who-knows-where. They probably won’t give you a chance to explain, and might even suspect some plot. Are you sure you want to try?”

“Yes!” the little girl answered without hesitation. Zheng Yichen couldn’t help but knock on his own head. Really, why did he bother reasoning? He took out pen and paper and placed them in front of the little girl. “Come to think of it, I haven’t asked yet. Can you write?”

Lily nodded. “My parents taught me before…”

“Good enough. Write down everything you want the Sanctuary Church to do on this. Leave the rest to me?”

“You?” Lily looked skeptical… After all, Zheng Yichen was being chased like crazy. Did he have the ability to do this?

“Ah ha~! Hmph! You have no idea how amazing I am!”

“Then why are you running…”

“If someone amazing meets someone even more amazing, should they just wait to die?” Zheng Yichen snorted lightly, pointing a finger toward the town. “The Sanctuary Church members over there? This dragon could take them all down in minutes!”

“Oh…” A face full of cold disbelief.

“Write quickly! If you don’t write, acting like a cold Loli won’t help either.”

Lily nodded, unusually obedient, and lowered her head to write. Her handwriting was good; clearly taught by someone with nice penmanship. As for the content, Zheng Yichen lost interest after looking for a while. The information wasn’t written to elicit pity; it just detailed some of the dark secrets within the town. It was hard to imagine a little girl knowing such things.

Considering her obsession, she had probably gathered this information in preparation for killing.

“Alright, stop looking at me with such bitter hatred. I said I can handle this, so I can handle it.” Pinching the back of Lily’s collar with two fingers, he tossed her into the basket. Zheng Yichen muttered, waving a hand. A small Projection appeared beside his hand. The small Projection picked up the pen Lily had just used and added new content to the paper.

After finishing this, Zheng Yichen left this Projection behind and took the little girl far away from the area. Then, to her puzzlement, he pulled out Bona Kaine’s Magic Book from his pocket and found a spell. “Tsk tsk, this magic has the potential to develop into an Otherworld live stream. Too bad the energy cost is a bit high.”

He was using a viewing magic, the effect of which was to observe a specific area, but there needed to be a usable ‘observation unit’ there. Such units were usually simple Magic Artifacts imbued with one’s own Mana. When needed, one could connect to it using this magic. The farther the distance, the higher the consumption; the maximum range related to the user’s ability.

Zheng Yichen didn’t have such a thing, but what he left behind was a Projection, making it even more convenient to use this magic. Through the ‘screen’ formed by the magic in front of them, the little girl clearly saw what the Projection Zheng Yichen left behind was doing.

The Projection sneaked close to a certain range near the town, folded the paper in its hand, then a Stream of Light wrapped around it and swiftly flew toward the town. Naturally, the Sanctuary Church members stationed there intercepted it. The magic itself wasn’t powerful; its effect was just to carry an object in flight. After being intercepted, it revealed the thing it carried.

Looking at the content on the paper, the Sanctuary Church member who intercepted this simple magic quickly scanned the surroundings, found nothing, and immediately reported the matter. Looking at the content on the paper in his hand, the leader in charge of handling the town’s situation had a somewhat odd expression.

“That Dragon… is he a bit stupid?”