Chapter 34
Chapter 34: Brief Separation
“You don’t blame me?”
“Why would I blame you? Getting injured is perfectly normal, especially against such an opponent.”
Qixiya finished bandaging the wound on Funis’s forearm, then helped her remove the bloodstained lace gloves.
“That’s not what you told me before.” Funis lowered her eyes slightly.
She was sitting sideways in Qixiya’s embrace, watching as Qixiya carefully wiped the blood from her palms and backs of her hands.
“Is that so? I don’t really remember.”
“You said that a lady should maintain her grace even when fighting, and with this level of damage… I don’t think I qualified…”
Funis’s gaze fell to her own torn and dusty skirt hem, and her stockings had holes in the leg area too.
Weiss in “Burst” state had given her considerable trouble. Just surviving had been difficult enough—Funis had no way to also care about whether her clothing stayed neat under those circumstances.
“Pfft~” Qixiya couldn’t help but laugh.
“What? Did I say something wrong, Miss Witch?” Funis thought she had made some error and was confused.
“No, you remembered very clearly—it’s because you remember everything too clearly.” Qixiya caressed the girl’s small palm. “I was just using an exaggerated statement to scare you then, but you learned too well and too quickly.”
Funis still didn’t quite understand.
This feeling was familiar. Charlotte’s biological father, Temperance House training instructor Conrad, seemed to have had similar reactions. All her past teachers felt she was too earnest.
“But a girl’s skin is still very delicate and needs good care.” Qixiya patted the butterfly bow made from gauze on Funis’s forearm. “Being careful to protect yourself is never wrong. If you get ugly scars, you’d only be able to fix them by suicide.”
Funis’s face immediately turned ashen.
That sentence hit two of her sore spots at once.
Funis cared greatly about her appearance. Her favorite things were looking in mirrors and changing clothes. She absolutely couldn’t tolerate scars on her smooth body, but she happened to have the option of actively seeking death to activate healing and repair her entire body—yet she couldn’t possibly actually do that.
“Why did you come here, Miss Witch? I thought you’d already returned to the Golden Rose.”
“To clean up after you. Did you forget that if time drags on too long, this guy’s underlings will eventually find this place?” Qixiya extended her hand, and her flesh-colored skin gradually turned bright red. “Besides, the main body has indeed returned to the airship. This is a blood clone—I need to leave another me in Dark City to handle certain affairs.”
One of the extraordinary characteristics of the Pride Path Third Sequence “Crimson Monarch”—creating a clone identical to the main body using blood flow.
This clone wasn’t some crude knockoff with a huge power gap from the main body. She was practically another Qixiya, possessing the same appearance, physique, and extraordinary characteristics. From a certain perspective, this clone was even stronger than Qixiya’s main body, because any physical attacks wouldn’t cause substantial damage to a mass of condensed blood.
“Did you kill them all?”
“No, I made them all fall asleep. A small succubus ability—I can teach you too when you want to learn.”
Funis looked at the transparent foam gathering in Qixiya’s palm. She knew that once that foam burst, it would make anyone who inhaled the mist fall into dreams. The special substance secreted by succubi had hypnotic effects.
Actually, Funis had long ago figured out this ability on her own, though she couldn’t yet skillfully make so many people fall asleep at once like this.
She just hadn’t told Qixiya.
There were many things she hadn’t told Qixiya, including absorbing the codex fragment not long ago—if Qixiya didn’t plan to ask, Funis didn’t plan to tell her voluntarily either.
“You don’t want to leave traces. You have some reputation at Gray Cloud Fort’s Black Rose Society, and you don’t want to show yourselves in this incident.” Funis bluntly spoke Qixiya’s thoughts. “Whatever happens, neither Joseph nor the four major gangs can directly accuse you.”
“Exactly so, clever little cake.” Qixiya nodded with satisfaction. “No one in Dark City knows you—you appeared suddenly in Gray Cloud Fort. The Black Rose Society will temporarily pretend ignorance until that old man Joseph can’t sit still. Until then, you can cause as much trouble as you want.”
“I just want to get the sword rust secretions. Now I’m only one step away.” Funis showed the copper plate she’d found on Weiss.
“Of course, Vivian Glass Factory—very close now.” Qixiya grasped Funis’s hand and glanced at the symbols on the back of the copper plate. “Their code encryption hasn’t changed. This time it’s Vivian’s turn.”
“Turn?”
“The secret warehouse moves and transfers, which is why they make these copper plates to inform debt collectors.”
“So this is credible.” Funis breathed a sigh of relief. “Carving it so openly—I thought it might be a trap.”
“Normally no one would dare covet the Blood Wine Society’s collection. They actually don’t need to worry about security at all. But you’re an exception—they couldn’t imagine someone like you existing.” Qixiya rubbed Funis’s cheeks.
“What do you mean?” Funis let the witch manipulate her—she was too lazy to resist anymore.
“In your understanding, what kind of status and strength would someone who could threaten Weiss have?” Qixiya asked seriously in return.
“Someone who could threaten a Guardian with modified prosthetics… would need to be at least Seventh or even Sixth Sequence, but anyone who reaches that level definitely wouldn’t lack potion channels and means…”
Funis pondered and reasoned, then froze.
She began to understand Qixiya’s meaning. Those who coveted the Blood Wine Society’s treasures couldn’t get past the barrier of Weiss and other debt collectors, while those of higher status and stronger power either had no necessity or need, or simply wouldn’t consider the possibility of antagonizing local gangs.
Funis’s existence was special.
She both had necessity and need, and completely didn’t care how the Blood Wine Society viewed her.
“That’s why you found Weiss’s information for me. Debt collectors would definitely have the location of secret warehouses.” Funis understood Qixiya’s intention.
“Go to their warehouse for me and take a look. If you find any clues related to the Whisperer Trials, keep them in mind.” Qixiya pinched the girl’s earlobe. “Don’t be stubborn now—you want to find Moira soon too, don’t you?”
The witch preemptively predicted what Funis wanted to say.
Although she had always claimed orally to be indifferent to the gang’s creation of witches, she actually cared quite a bit.
The Whisperer Trials had consumed countless young girls’ lives. Anyone with normal moral and ethical concepts would feel disgusted by this, let alone Funis, who had once been a Temperance House Executor. She instinctively wanted to get involved and investigate.
But her inner sense of right and wrong was no longer the most important factor for Funis after becoming a witch.
Moira.
A pure and kind girl, like a white lily.
That was during Funis’s most desperate and dejected period, when hatred and helplessness accompanied her. It was then that Moira had comforted her and helped her regain the confidence to keep challenging Qixiya.
But Moira was ultimately also a witch. Later, Funis had intentionally or unintentionally distanced herself from her, and their connection had faded.
Now Moira was missing.
For over two weeks.
“I will, Miss Witch.” She answered softly.
After a while, Funis suddenly looked up and asked: “Aren’t you coming along? It’s so close, just a few hundred meters.” She spread out the map to show Qixiya.
“I have other things to handle, and besides, as you analyzed earlier, I can’t show my face casually.” Qixiya lifted Funis from her lap and carefully set her down on the ground. “Looking more carefully, your dress has become quite tattered… Once you get what you need, go to the agreed location and fire the signal flare. The sisters will see it and pilot a small airship to pick you up. Then you’ll need a good bath and a new dress.”
She was mainly referring to Funis’s right hand, where an entire sleeve had been torn off by bullets, leaving half her arm exposed, white and tender and conspicuous.
The current Funis clearly no longer looked like a lady, but she didn’t have the leisure to change clothes midway, so Qixiya could only urge her to return quickly.
“Hmm?” A flash of confusion crossed Qixiya’s eyes.
She grabbed a corner of Funis’s hair. What should have been