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Chapter 17
Beneath the dim, yellowish halo of light, Mo Chen saw that the white-haired girl was curled up on the sofa.
At this moment, she sprang up abruptly like a startled little animal, her entire face flushed bright red, staring fixedly at the suddenly opened door.
“Y-You, y-y-you… Didn’t you leave?! W-W-Why are you back again?!” Ayachi Nene pressed her legs tightly together, quickly tucking her small hands between her thighs.
Mo Chen: “Um… I just came back to see if you were hungry, and thought I’d take you out for a midnight snack by the way.”
Ayachi Nene: “Hungry… Of course I’m hungry! If we’re going out, let’s go already!”
Her voice sounded somewhat shaky, as if she was desperately enduring something.
Mo Chen: “That’s right, this is the Library key you left with me earlier. It’s better for you to hold onto it; at least you’ll be the one returning it later.”
As he spoke, he took out the key from his pocket and subconsciously took a step inside. “Don’t come in!!”
Nene practically shouted it out, her voice tinged with obvious panic and shame. Mo Chen‘s footsteps paused.
Nene averted her gaze, speaking at a rapid pace: “N-No need to go through all that trouble… Just stand at the doorway will do. I-I’ll be right out.”
One of her hands tightly clutched the hem of her school uniform miniskirt, while the other propped against the sofa, stumbling slightly as she stood up. “Please wait a moment for me. I’m going to the restroom.”
Looking at her flustered yet feigned composure, Mo Chen didn’t know whether to laugh or cry for a moment.
Nene hurried into the restroom inside the activity room. In less than two minutes, the door opened again.
Walking out once more, she let out a long breath, seeming entirely reborn, having recovered that dignified and aloof honor student aura. She straightened her collar and skirt, gently smoothing out her slightly messy silver hair with her fingers.
Ayachi Nene stepped forward. As she drew closer, a faint, fresh floral fragrance drifted over.
She reached out to take the key handed over by Mo Chen, her fingertips brushing lightly against his palm. “Let’s go.” Her voice was much calmer. “Let’s go get something to eat.”
Mo Chen: “…” He couldn’t help but be stunned.
Ayachi Nene‘s condition right now was abnormally good.
From their first meeting in the afternoon until she opened the door shortly ago, the version of her Mo Chen was accustomed to knowing was the one immersed in self-soothing. In contrast, this appearance was even more unfamiliar to Mo Chen—aloof, quiet, carrying an intangible sense of distance.
Ayachi Nene: “What’s with that expression of yours?”
Her tone suddenly dropped in temperature. “Just now, you saw everything, didn’t you?”
Mo Chen: “How could that be! I didn’t hear anything just now, I stopped as soon as I heard a tiny bit!” He hurriedly pacified her, trying to make the atmosphere lighter.
Ayachi Nene: “… A tiny bit?” Her complexion turned gloomy at a speed visible to the naked eye. “You saw it after all.”
Mo Chen: “Anyway, it’s not the first time. For this kind of thing, as long as you don’t say anything and I don’t say anything, there’s no need to care too much.” He bit the bullet and crudely changed the subject.
Mo Chen: “Shall we go out to eat something now? Being able to dine with such a pretty girl is my wish, you know.”
“A pretty girl?” Ayachi Nene narrowed her eyes slightly, a hint of unkindness in her tone.
“Didn’t you just do that kind of thing with that girl this afternoon? You wouldn’t happen to be a playboy, would you?”
“Well, about that…”
Mo Chen was momentarily speechless.
From Chie to Eri, Marina, and Reina, he simply had no way to retort with justified confidence.
Ayachi Nene stared at him for a few seconds, then suddenly sighed softly, drooping her shoulders as if she had given up on something. “Forget it, sorry, I asked too much.” Her voice lowered.
“Let’s go, anything to eat is fine. It’s also time to go home now. I’ve caused you trouble today.”
“Eh?”
Mo Chen and Ayachi Nene opened the Library‘s door lock and came outside.
The night was already deep, and the campus was dead silent. Streetlights cast a dim, yellowish halo in the distance, and there was not a soul around. An evening breeze blew past, and Ayachi Nene involuntarily shivered, wrapping her arms around herself.
In a state of five-hundred-fold sensitivity, letting her go back all by herself was probably indeed a bit too much to ask. However, compared to returning to that shabby activity room to make do for the night, Mo Chen had a better choice. He took out his phone, the light of the screen illuminating his face.
The text message Marina had sent earlier still quietly lay in the notification bar.
“Right, Ayachi Nene,” he turned his head and proposed naturally,
“I know a family nearby. How about going over to their place to spend the night first?”
Ayachi Nene: “…?”
She raised her eyes in confusion, not yet fully grasping the meaning of those words, when Mo Chen had already turned his phone screen toward her. The eerie, bright light reflected in her purple eyes, and the interface of the hypnosis app silently shifted.
Her gaze gradually became hazy and docine.
【Shadow Projection】
The nameplate of the Akizuki Family clearly floated into Mo Chen‘s mind.
The next moment, the surrounding space began to ripple in silent circles like flowing water stirred by an invisible hand. The scenery blurred and overlapped in an instant. When their vision cleared once more, the two of them were already standing in front of a quiet residence.
【Recognition failed or blank page】
Chapter 36: Can you see me?
“? Where is this?”
Ayachi Nene seemed to suddenly snap back to her senses, looking around blankly.
“This is a family I know nearby. I’ve already arranged it with them, so you can rest here for the night first.”
As he spoke, Mo Chen pushed open the door and led Ayachi Nene inside, who was confused but didn’t ask too many questions.
“Daddy? You’re back? Who is this…”
Just as they stepped into the entryway, Marina, who was sitting on the living room sofa, turned her head at the sound.
Seeing the unfamiliar girl following behind Mo Chen, she put down the book in her hand and stood up to walk over.
“D-Daddy?”
Ayachi Nene caught Marina‘s form of address for Mo Chen, unconsciously taking half a step back, a flash of vigilance and confusion crossing her purple eyes. “What is your relationship?”
“Ahem,” Mo Chen hurriedly stepped forward and said in a low voice to Marina, “When there are outsiders around, don’t call me that.”
Marina nodded knowingly, turning toward Ayachi Nene with a gentle and proper smile:
“Mo Chen is our adoptive father. Although we’re about the same age, legally speaking, we really are family now.” She explained it nonchalantly, then naturally shifted the topic,
“Anyway, Mo Chen, do you want to eat first? I saved some food for you.”
Mo Chen glanced at Ayachi Nene, who was still somewhat tense behind him, and stepped aside to make space: “Let’s have dinner here tonight.”
“If you are still feeling unwell, you can safely stay and rest here until you recover.” He shifted his gaze to Marina: “Marina, is that okay?”
Marina looked at Ayachi Nene: “Since she’s someone Mo Chen brought back, staying here is of course no problem.”
“You don’t have to be too nervous; Mo Chen doesn’t usually live here either, so you don’t need to worry about anything else.”
“He doesn’t usually live here?”
Ayachi Nene repeated softly, seemingly struggling to digest this fact, which carried a massive amount of information.
“I’ll go heat up the dishes first. Does Mo Chen want to eat together?”
As she spoke, Marina walked toward the kitchen and took several prepared simple dishes out of the refrigerator.
“There isn’t much food left, so Classmate Ayachi should eat first. I’m mainly afraid you might be hungry.”
Mo Chen didn’t refuse Marina‘s kindness, and turned to look at Nene: “I’ll just eat whatever is left later.”
“There’s no need to go to such trouble.” Ayachi Nene shook her head, her tone having recovered most of its usual calmness. “Let’s eat together.”
Marina brought the warmed dishes to the table—simple grilled fish, tamagoyaki, and miso soup were steaming under the warm yellow light.
Ayachi Nene hesitated slightly, but still sat down in the seat opposite Mo Chen. For a moment, there was only the faint sound of bowls and chopsticks clinking softly.
【Detected that the Master of Fate has come into contact with a Fate Film, a brand-new task is loading】
【Name: Witches’ Evening Banquet】
【Stage: Any】
【Plot: In order to achieve her wish, Ayachi Nene is day by day collecting “Fragments of the Heart”. She can transform into an unknown witch persona, and at the moment when people’s emotions like joy expand excessively, she “shatters” them, thereby collecting Fragments of the Heart】
【Task Objective: Assist Ayachi Nene in collecting “Fragments of the Heart” until the container is filled】
【Reward: Nene Detonator, randomly draw an artifact containing the concept of “Transformation”】
Detonator? Random?
Mo Chen‘s gaze drifted between the system text and Ayachi Nene, who was quietly dining in front of him, and he couldn’t help but be slightly startled. This time’s reward description left him a bit clueless.
Something like “random draw” stuff always felt like clearance-sale backlog items from the system’s warehouse, no matter how you looked at it.
With his years of experience of always hitting the hard pity on gacha pulls, he really didn’t dare to hold too much hope for the so-called “divine artifact”.
If it could be stronger than his own “magic cake” that could only be eaten three times, that would already count as a success.
“What’s wrong?”
Ayachi Nene noticed his gaze, stopped her chopsticks, and a hint of doubt flashed in her purple eyes.
“Ahaha, it’s nothing.”
Mo Chen immediately put on a smile, making his tone sound as relaxed and natural as possible, “I’m just glad that I can help you, I’m actually quite happy inside.”
He paused slightly, as if organizing his words, or as if mentioning it casually, and continued, “I’m just that kind of person. Seeing that I can help others makes me quite satisfied already.”
Wanting to help Ayachi Nene collect the “Fragments of the Heart”, discussing it directly probably wasn’t very appropriate.
Mo Chen tried his best to make his emotions play out more fully; he would help her collect the “Fragments” once first, and then try talking to her.
Ayachi Nene: “Is that so?”
Raising her purple eyes and looking at Mo Chen‘s brilliantly cheesy smile, Ayachi Nene said, “I have a small matter to attend to, I’ll take my leave for a moment.”
After speaking, she put down her chopsticks, stood up, and turned to walk quickly towards the restroom.
About a minute later, when the door opened again, the person who walked out was no longer the honor student wearing a neat school uniform.
The first thing that caught the eye was the hem of the black-on-the-outside-pink-on-the-inside cloak, swaying gently with her footsteps.
The purplish-red collar around her neck cast a matte glow under the light, and purple belts wrapped around her chest and waist, outlining dangerous curves; beneath the black-and-red gradient shawl sleeves was a boldly designed black hollowed-out short skirt.
Her left leg was wrapped in black-and-white horizontal striped knee-high socks, while her right leg wore white stockings complexly bound by golden straps.
The black witch boots on her feet were bound in a crisscross pattern with purple belts.
The exposure degree of her overall outfit was extremely high, and the whole person exuded a unique, mysterious, and dangerous charm characteristic of a witch.
But what was most eye-catching was still the silver chunk of metal she tightly clutched in her hand, completely disproportionate to Nene‘s small hand.
That was clearly a handgun.
Ayachi Nene steadily raised the gun, the muzzle accurately aiming right between his eyebrows.
Mo Chen was holding his rice bowl, cold sweat involuntarily seeping from his wrists, and his Adam’s apple rolled with a swallowing motion.
Rationally speaking, Mo Chen knew that thing probably couldn’t kill him.
What she was collecting were “Fragments of the Heart”, not genuinely taking someone’s life.
Yet being pointed at the head by such a solid metal creation at close range,
his body still instinctively stiffened, every nerve taut like a fully drawn bowstring.
Just at this moment, he suddenly felt a slight heaviness at his temple.
“Swish——”
Above the dining table, a large mass of pitch-black feathers surged out from above Mo Chen‘s head without any warning.
They didn’t fall slowly, but instead gushed out like they broke free from some constraint, so dense that they almost blocked his vision, every single feather exuding an unusually deep dark color.
Ayachi Nene‘s gun-holding hand paused almost imperceptibly, her purple eyes widening slightly: “…What is going on? They’re… black?”
Her voice carried obvious astonishment.
“I don’t know either.”
Mo Chen himself was completely baffled, instinctively raising a hand to brush away a few black feathers that were about to drift into his bowl.
Ayachi Nene‘s gaze snapped back to focus on Mo Chen‘s face. Although the muzzle hadn’t been lowered, her tone revealed an even deeper shock and suspicion: “…You can see me?”
In the last hotfix update, Mo Chen‘s school was changed from St. Lily University to St. Lily Academy; it felt a bit weird before.
Chapter 37: There is plenty of time and resources to slowly wear her down.
Mo Chen: “When you fired the gun, I could see you.”
He replied briefly.
Ayachi Nene‘s witch form could be seen by people related to magic.
Although Mo Chen didn’t have much to do with “magic” right now, it was probably the Succubus Constitution that gave Mo Chen‘s body magical power taking effect.
Hearing this, a trace of embarrassment flashed across Ayachi Nene‘s face: “This…”
Her gaze wandered uncertainly, and in the end, she lowered her eyelids, avoiding eye contact.
She looked down at the collection bottle she held tightly. The pure white feathers that were originally abundant in the bottle were now being stained and blurring at a speed visible to the naked eye, turning into a piece of deep pitch black.
What made her even more at a loss was that these pitch-black feathers didn’t stay in the bottle, but instead gushed out of the bottle’s mouth all at once, drifting in the surrounding air as if endowed with life.
Ayachi Nene hurriedly reached out to grab them. But those black feathers were like phantoms, passing straight through her fingertips.
Immediately after, as if pulled by an invisible gravitational force, they abruptly reversed direction and plunged entirely into Mo Chen‘s chest.
A wave of warm current subsequently spread within Mo Chen‘s body.
Ayachi Nene suddenly lifted her head, staring intently at Mo Chen‘s face, her voice trembling slightly from shock and suspicion:
“Were all those feathers just now sucked into your body? Do you have any special feelings right now?”
Mo Chen shook his head: “No special feelings. If I really have to say, it feels a bit like just finishing a hot bath, my body feels all warm and cozy.”
“How is that possible?!” Ayachi Nene almost lost her voice,
“That’s a “Fragment of the Heart”! Didn’t you see any visions? Didn’t you hear any sounds? Weren’t your emotions fluctuating at all?”
“Completely none.” Mo Chen answered truthfully, feeling that it was somewhat strange himself.
Those fragments entered his body as if clay oxen entering the sea, not stirring up the slightest ripple.
Mo Chen: “How about you look on the bright side, maybe there’s still a little left in the bottle?”
Ayachi Nene stared at the glass bottle in her hand.
The inside of the bottle was completely empty, not leaving a trace of even a glimmer. Her expression instantly sank.
“Not even a single one is left…” Her voice carried a despairing tremble,
“Where on earth did they go… I collected them for so long, and with such great difficulty… As expected, they’re all gone.”
She could no longer restrain herself, lunged forward abruptly, tightly grabbing the fabric of Mo Chen‘s chest, and shook him violently, her purple eyes filled with anxiety and pleading:
“I spent so long on those! Give them back to me! I’m begging you, give them back to me!”
Mo Chen was shaken a bit dizzy by her: “How am I supposed to return them? Stop shaking me.”
“Spit them out!” Ayachi Nene ignored everything, her voice even taking on a crying tone, her fingers clutching tighter,
“Hurry up and spit them out! Spit them all out for me without a single bit left!”
“Mo Chen? What’s going on outside, do you need to clear the table?”
At this moment, Marina heard the commotion in the living room and walked out from the bedroom.
At a single glance, she saw Ayachi Nene tightly clutching Mo Chen‘s lapels, the atmosphere between the two of them being rather subtle.
As if splashed with a basin of cold water right over her head, Ayachi Nene instantly realized her unseemly behavior.
She quickly let go of her hands, almost catapulting back to her original seat, placing her hands neatly on her knees, so fast it was as if everything just now was an illusion.
“It’s fine,” Mo Chen turned to Marina with a natural expression, “I’ll clean up myself in a bit. Just now we… um, we were just playing.”
Marina‘s gaze swept lightly between the two of them without pressing further, only nodding gently:
“Is that so, then you two continue. Call me if you need help.”
“Are you also a witch?”
Once Marina‘s figure disappeared behind the bedroom door, Ayachi Nene immediately lowered her voice and asked.
“No.” Mo Chen scratched his hair, his expression somewhat helpless,
“Besides, I’m a guy. Even if I were one, shouldn’t I be called a male witch instead?”
He said it rather casually, actually because his mind was currently a complete mess.
His original intention was just to show his own uniqueness so he could team up with her to collect fragments, who would have thought it would turn into “1+1=0”, directly wiping out her inventory to zero.
“Umm, by the way,” Mo Chen tried to pull the topic back on track,
“It seems I really can’t spit them out. Is there any other way to return the fragments to you?”
Ayachi Nene lowered her head, her voice carrying obvious disappointment:
“Sor… As for a method, I don’t know either. This is the first time I’ve ever encountered a situation like yours.”
【As a “Pure Bystander“, the Life Master, in the process of trying to assist the witch Ayachi Nene, very regrettably swallowed all of the “Fragments of the Heart” she had collected over a long period, integrating them into the Succubus Heart】
【Note: The Fragments of the Heart produced by the Succubus Heart cannot function normally even if successfully collected】
